WASHINGTON — Purchases of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in October to a one-year high as low borrowing costs helped sustain the recovery in residential real estate.
Existing homes sold at a 5.26 million annual pace, the strongest since September 2013 and up 1.5 percent from a revised 5.18 million pace in September, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday in Washington. It was the fifth consecutive month that the sales pace topped 5 million. Prices also climbed, the group said.
“I would hesitate to call it healthy but it is moving in the right direction,” Stephanie Karol, U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said before the report. “We’re not expecting that all the sudden it’s going to help us punch up to 4 percent growth, but going forward housing will provide modest support.”
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 78 economists called for a 5.15 million pace of resales, with estimates ranging from 5.05 million to 5.27 million. September’s figure was revised from a previously reported 5.17 million.
