The National Association of Realtors has released the existing home sales numbers for the month of September. Here's how the numbers look in pictures.
Picture #1:Sales increased in September, the first month with a year-over-year increase since the fall of 2005. September sales totaled 442,000 units, up 7.8% from the 410,000 units that sold in September of 2007.
Picture #2:The 7.8% volume increase in September was a sharp reversal from the existing trend. Prior to September, volume had decreased on a year-over-year basis by at least 10% for 13th straight months.
Picture #3: Excluding 2007, sales this past September represented the lowest volume month since September of 2001.
Adding it all up: This is a good step for the market, but a trend toward increasing sales may be tough to establish given the current economic slowdown.