Home Sales Jump Dramatically in October
Existing home sales surged in October to the highest level in more than 2-1/2 years, according to a real estate industry report issued Monday.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 10.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million units, up from the downwardly revised rate of 5.54 million in September. The sales beat forecasts of 5.7 million annual units, according to a consensus estimate of analysts compiled by Briefing.com, and were 23.5% above the 4.94 million-unit pace of 12 months ago.
The gain was due in part to an influx of buyers looking to take advantage of an $8,000 tax credit that the Obama administration made available for qualified first-time home buyers, the report said. The tax credit was scheduled to expire at the end of November, but it has been extended to April 30 and expanded to include more home buyers.
The median price of homes sold in October was $173,100, a 7.1% year-over-year drop. Distressed properties comprised 30% of the houses sold during the month. Sales in the South specifically jumped 12.7% to 2.30 million