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U.S. existing home sales keep rising in November

Xinhua, December 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Existing home sales in the United States rose consecutively in November for the third month, as wage rise and possible mortgage rates hike drove buyers into the market, an industry report showed Wednesday.

Total existing home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, grew 0.7 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million in November, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

November's sales pace is now the highest since February 2007 and is 15.4 percent above a year ago, said the NAR.

"The healthiest job market since the Great Recession and the anticipation of some buyers to close on a home before mortgage rates accurately rose from their historically low level have combined to drive sales higher in recent months," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.

Last week U.S. Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and indicated a faster rate hike pace next year, which means mortgage rates could rise more quickly in 2017.

Total housing inventory at the end of November dropped 8 percent to 1.85 million existing homes available for sales, which represents a 4-month supply at the current sales pace, lower than the 4.3 months in October. Compared with the data in November 2015, total housing inventory is 9.3 percent lower.

The median existing home price for all housing types in November was 234,900 U.S. dollars, 6.8 percent above the level a year ago, making the 57th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

"Existing housing supply at the beginning of the year was inadequate and is now even worse heading into 2017," said Yun.

"Rental units are also seeing this shortage. As a result, both home prices and rents continue to far outstrip incomes in much of the country," he added. Enditem