**MNI 5 THINGS: US Nov Existing Home Sales +1.9% M/M

--5 Things We Learned From The Existing Home Sales Data

By Kevin Kastner, Shikha Dave, and Harrison Clarke

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the November

existing home sales data released Wednesday by the National Association of

Realtors:

     - November existing home sales +1.9% to 5.32M vs 5.17M expected. Year/year,

existing home sales were -7.0%, the largest annual decrease since May 2011.

There was no revision to the October data. 

     - November resales in Northeast +7.2%, Midwest +5.5%, South +2.3%, and West

-6.3%.

     - November home supply -5.9% to 1.740m, but still +4.2% year/year. The

months supply fell to 3.9 months from 4.3 months in October, but was up from 3.5

months a year ago.

     - NAR's Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said "The market conditions in

November were mixed, with good signs of stabilizing home sales compared to

recent months, though down significantly from one year ago. Rising inventory is

clearly taming home price appreciation." He also stated that he would welcome a

slower pace of FOMC rate hikes. 

     - National median sales price +4.2% y/y to $257,700 in November.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 (973) 494-2611; email: harrison.clarke@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MAUDR$,MAUDS$,M$U$$$]