Home Resales Set Record in 1st Quarter
Bloomberg News
U.S. existing-home sales set a record in the first quarter, and prices rose 8% from a year earlier, helped by low mortgage rates and a limited supply of new homes, the National Assn. of Realtors said.
Sales of previously owned single-family homes rose to an annual pace of 6.54 million units, beating the record of 6.11 million set in the first quarter of 2001. The median existing-home price rose to $150,900 from $139,700 a year earlier.
The biggest price increase was in the Nassau-Suffolk region on Long Island in New York, where the median rose 26.5% to $287,000. The median in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area rose 17.7% to $265,000.
The most expensive market was the Bay Area, with a median of $482,300, followed by Orange County at $372,000.
