The rate of existing home sales declined sharply in November on the national, state and local levels as compared with October.Jim Letizia reports.
The National Association of Realtors says existing U.S. home sales fell by 10.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million. It was the weakest pace in 19 months. The Ohio Association of Realtors says sales in November fell by 8.7 percent from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of more than 131 thousand. Last month marked the best November sales figures in nine years. And the Columbus Realtors trade association says existing home sales in its multi-county region fell 21 percent last month, with nearly 19 hundred dwellings changing hands. Industry analysts say home prices are rising at more than double the pace of wages, creating affordability pressures, while the introduction of a new disclosure form in October likely prevented many homebuyers from closing on sales in November. The declines follow solid gains for much of 2015, with sales on track to rise roughly 5 percent for the entire year in the U.S.. The median sale price of an existing U.S. home in November was over 230 thousand dollars, up 6 percent from the same month a year ago. The average statewide price was nearly 148 thousand dollars, up 1.4 percent from November of last year. And the *median* sale price in the region was nearly 153 thousand dollars, down 1.4 percent from October.
