Resales Rise, Hold Above Benchmark Level

Sales of existing single-family homes rose 2.0% in February, only the eighth month on record in which the resale pace has reached or surpassed the 6 million mark, according to the National Association of Realtors.The NAR reported that resales increased from a revised seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.00 million units in January to a 6.12 million rate in February. The rate was 5.7% higher than the 5.79 million rate recorded in February 2003. "Currently, we are projecting that home sales will decline slightly, but they remain at exceptionally high levels," said NAR chief economist David Lereah. "With a strong underlying demand for housing from a growing population in a recovering economy, we could be flirting with another record this year." Regionally, resales jumped 14.3% in the Northeast and 7.6% in the Midwest, rose 3.1% in the West, and fell 4.2% in the South, the NAR reported. The NAR can be found on the Internet at http://realtor.org.