Existing-home sales top 5 million in 2013 -- best year since 2006

Silicon Valley Business Journal

From the article:

More than 5 million existing homes were sold in 2013, the best year since the boom times of 2006, when 6.5 million were sold.

That's according to the National Association of Realtors, which reported that single-family homes, town homes, condominiums and co-ops sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.87 million in December, up 1 percent from November.

Last year's total of 5.09 million sales was 9.1 percent higher than 2012's total.

Job growth, low mortgage interest rates and pent-up demand had been driving the market since 2011, said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

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