SF Chronicle "sales of single-family homes plunged by the largest amount in 25 years"

[El Pinko]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/24/national/w053314S57.DTL&type=business


Existing Single-Family Home Sales Drop
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
Thursday, January 24, 2008


(01-24) 07:22 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Sales of existing homes fell in December, closing out a horrible year for housing in which sales of single-family homes plunged by the largest amount in 25 years. The median home price dropped for the entire year, the first time that has occurred in four decades.
The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 2.2 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units.
For the year, sales of single-family homes were down by 13 percent, the biggest drop since a 17.7 percent plunge in 1982. The median price for a single-family home dropped 1.8 percent to $217,000.
That was the first annual price decline on records going back to 1968. Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said it was likely that the country has not experienced a decline in housing prices for an entire year since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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