Sale of Existing Homes Edges Up in November : Housing: Analysts credit the slight 3% improvement to continued declines in mortgage rates.

Sales of existing homes, boosted by falling mortgage rates, edged up 3% in November for the first increase since August, a real estate trade group said today.

The National Assn. of Realtors said sales of existing single-family homes climbed to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.14 million units in November, following declines of 3.8% in October and 9.4% in September.

The sales pace was only slightly better than the weak 3.05-million-unit pace set in October.

Analysts credited the slight improvement to continued declines in mortgage rates. Rates on 30-year-fixed mortgages have fallen to the lowest levels in three years and stand at 9.64%.

Rates had edged up in the period following Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, but in recent weeks they have resumed their downward path as the Federal Reserve has moved aggressively to fight a stagnant economy with lower interest rates.

Harley E. Rouda, president of the realtors group, said he believes that consumers who were “scared off” by the financial market disruption in August and September were beginning to buy homes again.

“Once mortgage rates settled down, consumers felt more at ease about buying a home,” he said.

The median price for a home in November was $91,300, down 1.7% from the level in October and down 1.9% from the median price a year ago.

The November sales increase was led by strength in the South and West. Sales in the South jumped 7.3%, while sales in the West were up 2%.

Sales continued to slump in the Northeast, falling 2%. Sales in the Midwest were unchanged.