The number of existing homes sold during November plummeted 8.6% as prices plunged by record amounts, according to a closely watched housing industry report issued Tuesday.
The National Association of Realtors said that home sales dropped to an annualized rate of 4.49 million units. That was down from 4.98 in October and much less than the 4.93 million units projected by a consensus of industry analysts as reported by Briefing.com.
“The only region where we’re seeing more sales are where bargain hunters are taking advantage of distressed sale prices,” said Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist. “About 45% of transactions, nationally, were of distressed properties.”
Yun blamed the financial market turmoil for the devastating report. For months, sales had hovered 4.9 million to 5.1 million.
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