Existing-home sales slipped 0.4% in February while prices on single-family homes and condominiums continued to surge.The National Associations of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes, condos, and co-ops fell from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.82 million in January to 6.79 million in February. Separately, single-family homes declined 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.94 million in February, and condo/co-op sales declined 1.2%. Condo prices surged at a 20.5% annual rate in February, while single-family home prices jumped 9.4%. The February sales rate was 6.1% above the rate in February 2004. Nevertheless, NAR chief economist David Lereah said he believes the market is settling down after setting sales records for the past three years. "The cooling in sales this year means we'll be transitioning from a white-hot housing market to a very strong market," Mr. Lereah said. The NAR can be found online at http://www.realtor.org.
