NAR: Sales of pre-owned homes to rise in '09

Sales of resale homes are expected to remain roughly flat this year, with the median resale home price falling for the third straight year, according to the latest National Association of Realtors forecast.

The Realtor group expects annual sales of resale homes to rise 0.3 percent this year, to 4.93 million, and to rise 5.8 percent in 2010.

The median price, meanwhile, is expected to fall 4.9 percent this year to $188,800, and NAR expects the median price to rise 3.9 percent in 2010, to $196,200.

Sales of new single-family homes are expected to sink 39.6 percent this year, following a 37.8 percent decline last year and a 26.3 percent drop in 2006. NAR projects 291,000 sales of new single-family homes this year, down from 775,000 in 2007 and 482,000 in 2008.

And the median price of new single-family homes is expected to drop 3 percent this year, to $223,600, and to rise 4.2 percent in 2010, to $233,000.

The NAR forecast anticipates that real gross domestic product will sink 2.5 percent this year and climb 1.7 percent in 2010, and that unemployment will soar to 8.7 percent this year and 9.2 percent in 2010 -- from 4.6 percent in 2007 and 5.8 percent in 2008.

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