Dados EUA: Home sales

[notiCIas]

Home sales dip in May

Sales of existing homes slowed last month to 7.13M units but still were the second-highest ever.

June 23, 2005: 10:26 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of existing U.S. homes fell 0.7 percent in May while home prices climbed 12.5 percent from last year, a trade group said Thursday.

Sales of previously owned homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.13 million units last month from April's record 7.18 million units, the National Association of Realtors said.

That figure includes both single-family homes and condominiums.

Analysts had expected overall sales to dip to a 7.15 million unit rate from April's previously reported pace.

The national median home price rose 12.5 percent to a record $207,000 from the same month a year ago, the report showed.

Single-family home sales fell 1.1 percent in May to a 6.21 million unit annual rate from a 6.28 million unit rate in April. Condo sales climbed 2.2 percent to a record 922,000 unit rate from a 902,000 unit pace in April.

The decline in overall sales came as mortgage interest rates edged down to 5.72 percent in May from 5.86 percent in April.

"This market is red hot," said David Lereah, chief NAR economist. "Stars are certainly aligned for the housing sector right now. I really don't see an end to this going forward."

Lereah did say, however, that he was worried about the lending side of the housing market. "There are some small bubbles percolating," he said.

"Sales still look slightly elevated compared to the mortgage applications numbers but there's not much in it. We therefore expect sales to remain close to this level for the foreseeable future," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist with High Frequency Economics, wrote in a report issued Thursday.

"There will be no meaningful downturn in home sales unless and until there is a significant, sustained rise in mortgage rates," he added.