HOME RESALES UP FIRST TIME IN SEVEN MONTHS

Median sales prices plunge record 8.2% in past year Boosted by a record decline in prices, the U.S. housing market showed signs of stability in February, with sales of existing homes rising modestly for the first time in seven months and inventories falling, the national Association of Realtors reported Monday. Resales of U.S. homes and condos rose 2.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million, ahead of the 4.85 million pace expected by economists. It’s the strongest sales pace since October. Sales are down 23.8% compared with a year ago. The median sales price plunged to $195,900, down 8.2% from a year earlier, the largest price decline recorded since the Realtors began tracking both single-family homes and condos in 1999. Prices of single-family homes fell 8.7% in the past year, also the most since the records began in 1968. Sales rose in three of four regions, with the West still lagging. Sales rose 11.3% in the Northeast, 2.5% in the Midwest and 2.1% in the South. Sales fell 1.1% in the West. Median sales prices are down 13.4% in the West, largely because the market for jumbo loans above $417,000 remains frozen.