Jan existing home sales -1.2% to 4.94 mln...>

US DATA: Jan existing home sales -1.2% to 4.94 mln saar (-8.5% y/y), below MNI

expectations for 4.98 mln. This followed an upward revised 5.00m pace in Dec.

- January sales were down from the Q4 average of 5.14 mln when annual revisions

are incorporated, pointing to the slowdown suggested by an MNI analysis on

Wednesday.

- Sales were -1.8% for single-family homes and +3.6% for condos. Sales rose in

the Northeast (+2.9%), but fell in the Midwest (-2.5%), South (-1.0%) and West

(-2.9%).

- The supply of homes +3.9% to 1.59m, +4.6% y/y. The months supply rose to 3.9

months from 3.7 months in Dec, well above the 3.4 months supply a year ago. The

median sales price fell in Jan to $247,500, +2.8% from a year earlier, the

slowest 12-month gain since Feb 2012. 

- NAR said that January sales decline was modest, with cold weather affecting

some areas.