September home sales up 9%

Demand from first-time homebuyers helped drive a 9.4 percent increase in sales of existing homes from August to September, the National Association of Realtors said today, continuing a trend of increasing sales in five out of the last six months.

At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million, sales of existing single-family, townhome, condominium and co-op properties in September were also up 9.2 percent from a year ago.

That's the highest rate of sales in more than two years -- a mark last exceeded in July 2007 when homes were selling at an annual pace of 5.73 million, NAR said.

Total housing inventory at the end of September fell 7.5 percent, to 3.63 million existing homes -- 7.8 months of supply at the current sales pace. That's down from an 9.3-month supply in August, and closer to the six months of supply that is widely considered a healthy balance between supply and demand.

Much of the momentum is from buyers taking advantage of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, which is scheduled to expire Nov. 30, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a press release.

Early information from an annual consumer study to be released Nov. 13 shows first-time home buyers accounting for more than 45 percent of home sales in the past year, NAR said.

"... With the first-time buyer tax credit scheduled to expire at the end of next month, people could hold back from entering the market," NAR President Charles McMillan warned in a press release restating the group's calls for an extension of the credit. ...CONTINUED

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