US existing home sales rise 1.0 percent

WASHINGTON - In a sign of a still-strong housing sector, US existing home sales climbed 1.0 percent in March to their third highest pace on record, National Association of Realtors reported Monday.
Home sales grew to an annualized pace of 6.89 million units, better than the 6.8 million expected by Wall Street analysts.
"With mortgage interest rates remaining historically low, gains in the labor market and economic growth appear to have lifted the confidence of home buyers," said David Lereah, NAR's chief economist.
"There's no question there is a strong demand for housing from a growing population."
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was 195,000 dollars in March, up 11.4 percent from March 2004 when the median price was 175,000 dollars.

04/25/2005 14:07 GMT