The sales of existing homes decreased in May with the median price of homes leveling out to a relatively normal rate.

Total existing home sales were down slightly by 1.2% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.67 million units in May, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The sales were 6.6% lower than May of 2005, when sales were at the 7.14 million-unit level.

The national median price of an existing home was up by 6.0% to $230,000. Last May, the median was at $127,000.

The surplus levels of existing homes on the market increased by 5.5% to 3.60 million homes for sale. The number represents a 6.5 month supply at the current sales rate.

Existing condominium and cooperative housing sales grew 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 852,000 units in May. Condo and coop sales remain 6.6% under the unit pace of May 2005, when sales hit 912,000.

The median price of an existing condominium was up 1.9% at $229,300 in May, when compared to one year ago.

Single-family home sales were down 1.5% when compared to April sales, and 6.6% lower than May of 2005.

The price of the median existing single-family home was up 6.4% to $229,700 when compared to May of 2005.

Sales declined in both the Northeast and Midwest, but increased slightly in the South and West regions of the nation.

Martin Lukac represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate and mortgage rates. We specialize in daily updates, mortgage news, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Lukac