National Association Of REALTORS Releases December Existing Home Sales Report

January 24, 2008 - The National Association of Realtors reported today that nationwide existing home sales declined in December 2007 - no surprises there! In 2006 there were 6,478,000 existing home sales. For 2007 they are reporting 5,652,000 transactions, down 12.8% from 2006.December saw home inventory levels drop 7.4% to 3.91 million homes. This reduced the housing supply to 9.6 months from 10.1 months in November. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, commented “The fall in inventory in December is encouraging, but inventories remain elevated and buyers have a clear edge over sellers in many markets.”

The President of the National Association of REALTORS, Richard Gaylord, took the position that raising conforming mortgage loan limits would benefit the market.

“The most effective way to stimulate housing and minimize the potential for a recession is for lawmakers to raise the limit on conforming mortgages to $625,000, which would open safe and affordable financing to buyers in high-cost areas,” he said. “It is grossly unfair that some Americans do not have access to low-interest rate loans. This would help people as they move away from risky subprime mortgages and high-interest rate jumbo loans.”

NAR projects that a higher loan limit would increase annual home sales, reduce the supply of homes on the market and strengthen home prices.

The current 2008 single-family mortgage loan limit published by FannieMae is $417,000, the same limit that has been effect since 2006.