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Existing Home Sales Fall for Third Time in Five Months
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes fell for the third time in the past five months in May, with the weakness led by a big drop in demand in the Northeast.

The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes dropped by 1.2 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.67 million units.

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The median price of the homes sold in May rose to $230,000 in May, up 6 percent from the same month a year ago. That represented a slowdown from huge double-digit price gains last year at the peak of the housing boom.

By region of the country, sales fell by the largest amount in the Northeast, a drop of 4.2 percent. Sales were down 3.8 percent in the Midwest.

Sales of existing homes managed to post small gains of 0.7 percent in the West and 0.4 percent in the South.

Analysts said this is a classic pattern for a cooling housing market with sales starting to lag under the impact of rising mortgage rates.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201157,00.html