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Existing Home Sales Declined In December

Sales of existing homes declined in December on the national, state and local levels. 

Jim Letizia reports.

The National Association of Realtors says sales of existing homes fell by 6.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.99 million. That's the worst pace in nearly three years. For all of 2018, sales fell 3.1 percent from a year ago to 5.34 million, the lowest total since 2015.   Sales have slowed after years of price growth and modest inventories hurt affordability. 

The Ohio Association of Realtors says existing home sales in December fell by 8.1 percent from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 145 thousand. For the year, sales finished down one percent from 2017  at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 150 thousand. 

The Columbus Realtors trade association says just over two thousand existing homes were sold in December, down roughly 300 from November.  For the year, sales in its multi-county region fell by 2.2 percent from 2017. 

The median national sale price in December was nearly 254 thousand dollars, down by four thousand from November. The average statewide price of more than 180 thousand dollars is up by one thousand from the previous month. And the average local price of more than 221 thousand is up by roughly one thousand dollars from November. 

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.
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