Existing home sales rise in 2020 to highest in 14 years

A "sale pending" sign is posted on.a home in Westfield, Ind., Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. Sales of new homes remained steady in October at a seasonally adjusted rate of 999,000 units. While the Commerce Department said October new home sales were down 0.3% from September, the government revised up its September figure marginally. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) (Michael Conroy, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

WASHINGTON – Sales of existing homes rose 0.7% in December, pushing the entirety of 2020 to a pace not seen in 14 years and providing one of the few bright spots for a U.S. economy mired in a global pandemic.

Rising sales in the final month of the year lifted activity to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.76 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday.

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Sales rose to 6.48 million in 2020, the highest level since 2006 at the height of the housing boom.

The median sales prices was $309,800 in December, up 12.9% from a year ago.