Existing Home Sales Rise in December

Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2015 --  Home resales rose 2.4% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million, the National Association of Realtors said.

Economists had expected the sales rate to increase to 5.08 million in December from  4.92 million in November.

The median sales price of used homes hit $209,500 in December, up 6.0% from a year ago.
December's inventory was 1.85 million existing homes for sale, a 4.4-month supply.However, the number was down 0.5% from a year ago.

For all of 2014, existing-home sales fell to 4.93 million units, down 3.1% from 2013. Meanwhile, the median price reached $208,500 in 2014, the highest since 2007.