Record home sales in '04
December report shows sales pace slows more than forecast, but full-year total tops '03 record.
January 25, 2005: 10:08 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Home sales slowed in December from the pace in November, but the sales of existing homes still set a new full-year mark in 2004, according to a report issued Tuesday.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing single-family homes sold at a seasonally-adjusted annual pace of 6.69 million homes in December. That's down from the revised 6.92 million sales rate in November, itself near a record, and below the consensus forecast of a sales pace of 6.80 million from economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Still the trade group's report put full-year sales at 6.675 million, up from the previous record of 6.1 million homes sold in 2003. And the group said it sees strong sales ahead in 2005.