Home Sales Fall in August, Buyer's Market

Total existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – dropped 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.30 million units in August, down from 6.33 million homes in July, and were 12.6 percent lower than the 7.21 million-unit level in August 2005.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $225,000 in August, down 1.7 percent from August 2005 when the median was $229,000. This was the first year-to-year median price decline since April 1995, and it was the second-biggest year-to-year price decline in the 38-year history of the monthly survey of home sales released by the National Association of Realtors (since 1968).