Resales Highest in 10 Months

Existing single-family home sales rose to 5.88 million units in February, the best reading in 10 months, according to figures compiled by the National Association of Realtors.Compared with the level recorded in January, home sales rose 3.7%, but they declined 3.4% compared with those of February 2006. RBS Greenwich Capital strategist Omair Sharif said, "We would caution against reading too much into the data, because similar to the January advance, it seems that the weather boosted the headline figure last month." NAR chief economist David Lereah called the gain a surprise, but noted that "fundamentals have improved in the housing market and buyers see a window now with historically low mortgage interest rates and competitive pricing by sellers." Condominium and cooperative sales rose 5.3% to 810,000 units, but declined 5.2% compared with those of February 2006, the NAR found. The condo/co-op figures are exclusive of the single-family numbers. The NAR can be found online at http://www.realtor.org.