Home sales dipped slightly in December compared to the previous month while the national median home price rose the most in seven years, an industry group said Tuesday.
Purchases fell 1 percent to a 4.94 million annual rate last month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today. The reading was still the second-highest since November 2009. Home sales were higher than any year since 2007, when there were 5.04 million homes sold. At the time, that was the lowest annual tally since 1998.
"We saw housing gain momentum throughout last year, and clearly a little dip doesn't take that away," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, who projected a drop to a 4.95 million annual rate.
"For the first time in a while, it looks like it's a sellers' market as much as it's a buyers' market. I suspect prices and sales will go up again in 2013."
Sales in December edged down by around 1% from November but still stood nearly 13% above the year-earlier level. Sales have now increased from their year-ago level in 18 consecutive months.
Economists believe house listings are down as sellers are more reluctant to sell at deep discounts compared to what their homes were once worth, especially considering they can get sell it for more if they wait longer.
A separate report released Tuesday by real-estate company Zillow Inc. said that home values rose by 5.9% in 2012, the largest annual home-price gain in more than five years.
More than two-thirds of some 366 markets analyzed by Zillow saw home prices increase last year, led by Phoenix, where values stood 22.5% above their year-ago levels, at a median value of $157,800.
Prices also rose in San Francisco by 14% to a median value of $526,200, and in San Jose, Calif., by 15.4% to $630,800. The national median value was $157,400.
