Existing Home Sales Decrease 4.6% for 1989

Sales of existing homes edged down in December, bringing the 1989 total to 3.43 million units, or 4.6% less than the previous year’s sales, a real estate trade group reported today.

The National Assn. of Realtors said December sales totaled a seasonally adjusted 3.55 million units, down 1.1% from the 3.59 million units sold in November.

The realtors attributed part of last month’s decline to severe weather conditions in the Northeast and South and to a large drop in the West from an extremely high November level.

For the year, sales were down from the 1988 total of 3.59 million units, which the realtors said was the strongest year of the decade.

The national median price for existing single-family homes in December was $92,500, 4.3% above the December, 1988, median of $88,700. The median price for the year was $93,100, also up 4.3% from 1988.

The median price means that half of the homes cost more and half less.

Realtors President Norman D. Flynn called last year’s sales “healthy” and said that while they declined in 1989, the decline was from the highest resale volume since 1979.

“Last month’s resale pace indicates a stable market,” Flynn said. “With plenty of homes available at good prices and relatively low mortgage rates, it is really a buyer’s paradise right now.”

Sales in the Northeast totaled 570,000 units on an annual basis, down 3.4% from November. For the year, the resale pace was 585,000 units, 13.1% below that of 1988.

The resale pace in the West was 600,000 units, down 6.3% from November.