Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in May, suggesting a modest recovery in the housing market could be uneven, an industry group reported Thursday. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said existing-home sales fell 1.5 percent last month to an annual rate of 4.55 million units. The result was in line with analyst expectations. Home re-sales have risen 9.6 percent from a year ago, evidence that home sales are slowly improving. Still, the pace is well below the 6 million that economist consider healthy. The national median price for a home re-sale rose in May, up 7.9 percent from a year earlier and the highest since June 2010, but the increase was only because of a drop in sales of cheaper homes. “I would attribute this primarily to the shortage of inventories on the lower priced homes," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun told reporters. He said sales of homes costing at least $250,000 were up more than 20 percent from a year earlier, but that sales declined for homes priced under $100,000. While the broader U.S. economy seems to be losing momentum, housing has improved. Despite a sharp slowdown in hiring, home prices appear to be stabilizing and homebuilder sentiment has risen to a five-year high. Housing starts heave held above a 700,000-unit annual pace for the last five months, a first since 2008.
