Home Sales in 'Free Fall'

Washington Post (09/26/07) P. D2; Lengel, AllanThe National Association of Realtors reports a month-to-month decline in existing-home sales of 4.3 percent and a year-over-year drop of 12.8 percent in August to an annual rate of 5.5 million, marking the lowest level of sales in five years. The report shows the first uptick in median price in a year, rising 0.2 percent to $224,500 from August 2006. However, the supply of resale properties on the market edged up 0.4 percent to a 10-month supply of 4.58 million units. NAR senior economist Lawrence Yun attributes the decrease in sales to turmoil in the subprime mortgage market. Home sellers setting "unrealistic" asking prices also play a role, according to Weiss Research real estate analyst Michael Larson.