In this photo taken July 15, 2011, in Springfield, Ill., an existing home for sale, is shown.Seth Perlman/The Associated Press
U.S. home resales fell in September as the stock of properties on the market fell, a reminder that America's housing sector is a long way from a full recovery despite recent signs of improvement.
The National Association of Realtors said on Friday that existing home sales dropped 1.7 per cent last month to an seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million units.
That matched the median forecast made by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Nationwide, the median price for a home resale was $183,900 (U.S.) in September, up 11.3 per cent from a year earlier as fewer people sold their homes under distressed conditions compared to a year earlier. Distressed sales include foreclosures.
The nation's inventory of homes – those for sale on the market – fell 3.3 per cent during the month to 2.32 million.
At the current pace of sales, inventories would be exhausted in 5.9 months, the lowest rate since March 2006, the NAR said.
Lawrence Yun, an economist at the NAR, said the low level of inventories was partially due to a lack of new homes. The rate of groundbreaking on new homes rose sharply in September but remained about 60 per cent below its 2006 peak.
The price increase last month was measured against September 2011, and since then distressed sales have fallen to 24 per cent of total sales from 30 per cent.
Still, the share of distressed sales, which also include those w h ere the sales price was below the amount owed on the home, increased in September of this year from 22 per cent in August.