EXISTING HOME SALES PLUNGE

The pace of exising home sales plunged 6.1% in November to an annualized rate of 4.93 million units.

This was much worse than expected.

Economists had forecast the pace of sales declined 1.1% to 5.20 million units.

"Overall, the weaker existing home sales report suggests that the housing market remains on a somewhat rocky footing as data remains quite choppy," TD Securities Gennadiy Goldberg said. "We suspect that the recent decline in mortgage rates could help provide a near-term boost to activity over the coming months, but believe that further housing market improvement is likely to remain quite gradual, remaining a source of concern for the Fed. "

“Fewer people bought homes last month despite interest rates being at their lowest levels of the year,” said the NAR's Lawrence Yun. “The stock market swings in October may have impacted some consumers’ psyche and therefore led to fewer November closings. Furthermore, rising home values are causing more investors to retreat from the market.”

The median existing home sales price was $205,300 during the month, up 5.0% from a year ago.

The inventory of existing homes available for sale fell to 2.09 million, which represents a 5.1 month supply.

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