Existing home sales jumped 7.4% in November to a 6.54 million annual rate, spurred by the original Nov. 30 deadline for a recently extended federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday.
In October, sales rose 9.9% to a 6.090 million annual rate, originally reported as 6.100 million.
Meanwhile, the months' supply of existing homes was 6.5 months, the lowest level in about three years. The year-over-year increase was spurred by a spike in sales activity across all four regions of the country.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected existing homes to sell at a 6.250 million annual rate in November, according to the median estimate.
The median home price was $172,600 in November, a 4.3% decline from a year ago and the smallest decline in two years, when, in November 2007, the category fell 4.1%. Last month's median sale price rose 0.2% from October.
