4Q Resales Rise to 3rd-Highest Level

Total existing-home sales -- including condominiums and co-operatives -- set the third-highest pace on record in the fourth quarter, rising in 24 states from the levels recorded a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.The seasonally adjusted annual resales rate was 6.90 million units in the fourth quarter, up 0.3% from 6.88 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. (The record high of 7.24 million units was set in the third quarter of 2005, the NAR reported.) The biggest year-over-year gains were recorded in Arkansas, where the resale rate was up 29.8%; Alaska, up 28.4%; and Louisiana, up 28.1%.