Existing Home Sales Up In February

Existing home sales in the US picked up in February, recording their largest gain in nearly three years even as house prices continued to fall, the National Association of Realtors said.

Sales were up 3.9 pct to reach 6.69 mln units in February. The rise was the biggest since March 2004. Markets had been predicting a fall to 6.30 mln units.

The median sales price fell 1.3 pct to 212,800 usd. The decline was the seventh in a row.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said the rise in sales may have been due to the milder weather but noted that the fundamentals have also improved.

‘Some of the rise in home sales may be from mild weather that brought out shoppers in December, but fundamentals have improved in the housing market and buyers see a window now with historically-low mortgage interest rates and competitive pricing by sellers,’ he said.

He believes the recent spate of unusual weather suggest that home sales may decline in March before rebounding later this spring.