US existing home sales rise for the third consecutive month in November

The National Association of Realtors said today that US existing home sales rose 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.46 million units in November. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise by 6.52 million units in November.

On an annual basis, home resales, which account for the bulk of US home sales, declined 2.0% in the twelve months to November compared to the same period last year. The median current home price rose 13.9% to $353,900 in November from the same period last year, and at the pace of November sales it would take 2.1 months to exhaust existing inventory, down from 2.3 months last year.