Resales Drop

Sales of existing single-family homes fell 3.8% in August as problems in the subprime market spread to jumbo mortgages, according to the National Association of Realtors."The unusual disruptions in the subprime market, including a significant rise in jumbo loan rates, resulted in a fairly high number of postponed or canceled sales," said NAR senior economist Lawrence Yun. The NAR reported that sales of previously owned homes fell from a seasonally adjusted annual rate 5.0 million in July to 4.8 million in August -- down 13% since August 2006. The Realtors' survey found that the median price of a single-family property, $223,900, is "essentially even" with that of a year ago. But the newly released Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller housing index, which covers 20 metropolitan areas, shows that house prices declined at a 3.9% annual rate in July. The NAR can be found online at http://www.realtor.org.