WASHINGTON — Sales of previously owned homes rose last month, but not enough to keep August from being the second-worst month for sales in more than a decade.
Sales rose 7.6 percent in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
Sales were down 19 percent from the same month a year earlier. A government tax credit of up to $8,000 gave housing a temporary lift late last year and into 2010. Demand plunged in July, the month after buyers were originally required to close deals in order to get the incentive.
July was the worst month for sales in 15 years. That was unchanged by a slightly upward revision.
High unemployment and a record number of foreclosures have kept the economy from gaining strength since the recession ended. Those factors have also deterredmany people from buying homes.
The housing industry was helped this spring when the government offered homebuying tax credits. But it has struggled since those expired in April.
Low prices and the cheapest mortgage rates in decades haven’t been enough to lift the housing market.
The median sale pricewas $178,600, up 0.8 percent from a year ago.
On Thursday, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., said the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 4.37 percent. Earlier this month, the rate dipped to 4.32 percent, which was the lowest level on records dating back to 1971.
Potential buyers are still nervous, said Eric Matz, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker in the San Diego area.
“Nobody wants to see their investment go down after they buy it,” he said. “It’s as tough as I’ve ever seen it.”
Homebuilders, who normally power economic recoveries, have kept construction low rather than try to compete with all the unsold properties. With nearly 4 million homeson the market, it would take about a year to exhaust that supply at the current sales pace.
As many as 3.3 million homes could be lost to foreclosure or distressed sale over the next four years, according to Moody’s Analytics.
Sales grew last monthacross the country. They rose by nearly 14 percent from a month earlier in the West, 8 percent in the Northeast and 5 percent in the Midwest and South.
Information for this article was contributed by Bob Willis and Courtney Schlisserman of Bloomberg News.
Business, Pages 27 on 09/24/2010