Home Resales Down 4.3% During 1990 : Real estate: A realtors’ trade group says the total is the lowest since 1985. They expect a pickup by midyear.

Sales of existing homes fell 4.3% in 1990 as the faltering U.S. economy and uncertainty over the Mideast took their toll on the housing industry, figures compiled by a real estate trade group showed today.

The National Assn. of Realtors said sales of previously owned single-family homes totaled just 3.29 million in 1990, compared to 3.44 million a year earlier. It was the lowest number of sales since 3.21 million homes were bought in 1985.

NAR economist John A. Tuccillo said that January sales will probably be skewed by the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War and that February’s activity may be a more accurate indicator of housing activity.

Many analysts expect sales of both new and existing homes to pick up by midyear.

Although existing home sales rose 2.2% in December, the improvement was based solely in the Midwest. Elsewhere, sales continued to slide.

The December increase followed a 3% advance a month earlier, the first gain since August. The realtors attributed the improvement to declining mortgage rates, which edged downward throughout the final quarter of 1990 following a spurt after Iraq stormed Kuwait last August.

The average rate for a 30-year, conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 9.68% by the end of December.

The realtors said the national median price of an existing home in 1990 was $95,500, up 2.6% from 1989. But the median price in December was just $91,900, down 4.6% from last January and reflecting the falling values of homes in many areas of the country.

December sales in the West were down 0.2% from November. For the year, they fell 6.7%.

The South posted the only regional increase in existing home sales for the year, up 0.2%. However, the December resale rate was down 2.3%.

Sales in the Midwest were up 15.9% in December, although they were down 2.5% for the year.

In the Northeast, the resale pace in December was 3.9% below the November rate. Sales for the year were down 12.2% from 1989.