In the United States, the housing market continues to struggle as a larger number of backlogged properties sit on the market without being sold. Many believe that buyers are holding out for the best deals they can get.
For the sixth month in a row, home sales of previously owned properties have dropped. January saw a drop of just 0.4%, which is an annual rate of 4.89 million. The National Association of Realtors reported this.
With these numbers in place, and the current rate of sale, it would take more than ten months of time to sell off the current inventory of properties currently on the market. According to experts, this is more than twice the normal amount of homes on the market.
Re-sales were down by some 23.4% when compared to those in the January last year.
Some promising news was reported though, in that the sale of single family homes here rose for the first time in nearly a year's worth of decline.
As reported by Market Watch, Joel Naroff, who is chief economist for Naroff Economies Advertisers, "Sales are so low that a bottom seems to be in sight. That cannot be said about prices." In addition, "With mortgage rates low, declining prices should bring in more buyers."