Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Home resales in the U.S. rose more than forecast in September, aided by foreclosure-driven declines in prices that made properties more affordable.
Purchases of existing homes jumped 5.5 percent last month to a 5.18 million annual pace, the highest level in a year, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The median price dropped 9 percent. The boost to sales from lower prices may be short lived as banks withhold financing on mounting concern that record foreclosures will hurt profits and depress values even more. The collapse in lending signals the housing recession will extend well into a fourth year. ``Buyers are having trouble getting financing,'' Terrin Griffiths, an economist at the California Credit Union League in Rancho Cucamonga, California, said before the report. ``The economy is showing increasing signs of weakness and the housing market continues to struggle.'' Resales were forecast to rise to a 4.95 million annual rate from a 4.91 million pace in August, according to the median estimate of 66 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from 4.7 million to 5.11 million. Sales rose 1.4 percent compared with a year earlier, the first year-over-year increase since November 2005. Resales totaled 5.65 million in 2007. Today's figures compare with the 4.86 million level reached in June, the lowest in a decade and 33 percent down from the record reached in September 2005. ............................... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602061&sid=auh3iRzkjrUw&refer=movers_by_index
