Home Sales Rise to Highest Level In 2.5 Years

Home sales surged for the second month in a row in October,
climbing to the highest level in 2 1/2 years as first-time buyers
rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit.

Home sales nationwide are now up nearly 36 percent from their
bottom in January, data Monday showed, though they are still
6 percent below the peak in autumn 2005. At the current sales
pace, there is only a 7-month supply of homes on the market
and in some areas there are bidding wars.

Joey Wilson, 53, and her husband made unsuccessful offers on
20 Las Vegas homes since midsummer before closing on a
four-bedroom, $136,000 home this month.

"It's insane," said Wilson, who relocated from Kentucky. "I've
never seen a market like this before."

The National Association of Realtors said home resales rose
10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million
in October, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in
September. It was the biggest monthly increase in a decade,
and far above the 5.65 million pace expected by economists,
according to Thomson Reuters.

Without adjusting for seasonal factors, sales were up 21 percent
from a year earlier and were up in all four regions of the country.
The gains were led a 26 percent increase in the Midwest. Sales
were up 25 percent in the Northeast, 23 percent in the South and
10 percent in the West.