Existing-Home Sales in May Show Upsurge

Reflecting the impact of declining mortgage interest rates, California’s existing single-family sales activity reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 460,696 units in May, the second highest volume recorded since late 1980, according to the California Assn. of Realtors.

The pace was down 1.3% from the 466,764-unit annual rate posted in May, 1984, according to Raymond D. Spinelli, president of the 100,000-member organization. That rate was the highest posted in the past five years, he added.

The median sales price for existing single-family houses increased 4% from the $110,585 posted in May, 1984, to the $115,011 recorded in May, 1985, according to Joel Singer, the association’s vice president of planning, research and economics.