Existing Home Sales -.5Existing Home Sales Fall 0.5% in January.

Against expectations, sales of existing homes dropped in January, the second consecutive decline. Despite the drop in the number of sales, the months of inventory is descending, as fewer homeowners put their homes up for sale. House price appreciation also remains very strong. The level of sales activity remains quite high as well. The National Association of Realtors has rebenchmarked the sales data to the 2000 Census. The revised data shows a lower level of activity, but growth patterns remain the same. NAR is also now reporting condo data on a monthly basis.