Existing home sales rise to 5-month high

Sales by homeowners increased more than expected in July, as median prices fell 7% from July 2007.

NEW YORK: Sales of existing homes rose in July, according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by an industry trade group released Monday.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales by homeowners in July increased to an annual pace of 5 million, up from the revised June reading of 4.85 million.

That's better than the annual pace of 4.9 million that economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected, and it's the highest pace since February. Still, July sales were down 13.2% from a year earlier.

Home sales were helped by falling prices. The median price of a home sold during the month fell 7.1% to $212,400 from $228,600 a year ago. Before the start of the current housing slump, it had been 11 years since prices fell compared to a year earlier.