Realters predict drop in home sales for the year

A trade group for real estate agents on Tuesday lowered its forecast of 2007 existing home sales for the seventh straight month, predicting a drop of 8.6 percent from last year.

The National Association of Realtors’ revised monthly prediction calls for U.S. existing home sales of 5.92 million in 2007, down from 6.48 million last year.

The forecast was below last month’s prediction of a 6.8 percent drop.This year’s sales would be the lowest since 2002, when sales hit 5.63 million. Home sale prices this year are forecast to drop 1.7 percent to a median of $218,200.

Next year, the trade group expects existing home sales to climb to 6.27 million. It forecasts new home sales will fall 24 percent to 801,000 this year and 741,000 next year.The forecast comes as delinquencies among borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit have risen dramatically over the past year, and other loans are showing weakness as well.

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