"The best news was that the situation was really improving and gaining speed at a time when the economy was pretty much struggling"
- Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight
Sales of existing homes in the world's largest economy dropped unexpectedly in December, as fewer people put their properties on the market, although not by enough to derail the boost housing will likely provide to the U.S. economy this year. The National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday that sales of existing homes declined 1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million last month, below analysts' expectations of a 5.1 million-unit rate. Despite the decline it is still the second-highest since November 2009. During the 2012 sales climbed 9.2% from 4.26 million in 2011. In the meantime, the number of previously owned homes on the market dropped to 1.82 million, the weakest reading since January 2001.
"The best news was that the situation was really improving and gaining speed at a time when the economy was pretty much struggling," Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said before the report.
"The only concern going into 2013 is the inventory situation," Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in a news conference today as the figures were released. "Price increases are almost guaranteed going into 2013."
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