US May Existing Home Sales Down 2.2% To 5.66M Rate |
| Wall Street Journal - Jun 22, 2010 |
Sales of previously owned homes unexpectedly fell during May as high joblessness in the U.S. offset the fading benefits of a tax credit for buyers.
Home resales decreased by 2.2%, to a 5.66 million annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Inventories slipped and prices rose.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected existing-home sales to climb by 5.0%, to a rate of 6.06 million. The surprise decline followed two increases driven by a tax incentive for first-time buyers that the government enacted to spur a housing sector recovery.
But a soft labor market is causing people to think twice before making a big purchase, such as a house. U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 431,000 last month, the largest gain since March 2000. But most of the jobs involved temporary hiring for the census. Only 41,000 private-sector jobs were added.
"We still have cheap homes and cheap mortgages there for the taking," Weiss Research analyst Mike Larson said. "We just don't have a lot of buyers willing or able to step up to the plate. That will likely remain the case unless and until we get some momentum in the job market."
Read Full Article from Wall Street Journal
- Posted: 2010-06-22 10:45:03
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