The Realtor association reports sales of existing homes were up 6.5 percent in December compared to November, but were still 3.5 percent below the sales pace of December 2007.
     For all of 2008, there were 4,912,000 existing-home sales, 13.1 percent below the 5,652,000 transactions recorded in 2007. This is the lowest volume since 1997 when there were 4,371,000 sales.
     NAR Economist Lawrence Yun said falling prices significantly impacted sales.
     “The higher monthly sales gain and falling inventory are steps in the right direction, but the market is still far from normal balanced conditions,” he said. “Buyers will continue to have an edge over sellers for the foreseeable future."
     Total housing inventory at the end of December fell 11.7 percent to 3.68 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.3-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 11.2-month supply in November.