Chewbacca
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of previously owned homes fell 2.7% in October as evidence builds the red-hot housing market of the past five years is cooling these days.
The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing homes and condominiums declined 2.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.09 million units. The decline would have been an even larger 3.2% without a spurt in sales in areas where people displaced by the Gulf Coast hurricanes have moved.
Sales surged 83% in Baton Rouge; 32% in Mobile, Ala., and 14% in Houston. By contrast, sales were down 42% in New Orleans and 44% in Beaumont, Texas.
Even with the decline in sales, the median price of an existing home sold last month rose 16.6% to $218,000 compared to the median — or midpoint — price in October 2004.