October existing home sales hit fastest pace since January

By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes ticked higher in October, marking their strongest pace since January, even as resilient demand and competition for relatively few properties on the market kept prices climbing. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that existing homes sales rose 0.8% last month from September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.34 million units. Sales fell 5.8% from October last year. The median home price jumped to $353,900, a 13.1% increase from October last year. At the end of October, the inventory of unsold homes stood at just 1.25 million homes for sale, down 12% from a year ago. At the current sales pace, that amounts to a 2.4 months’ supply, the NAR said.