Existing Home Sales Fall in January

Existing homes sales dropped 7.2% in January for the second straight month, the National Association of Realtors said Friday.

January Sales fell to an annual rate of 5.05 million homes, from 5.45 million in December, the group said in its monthly report. It was the second-largest monthly decline on record, Bloomberg reported.

Economists had forecast home resales would climb to an annual rate of 5.5 million, Bloomberg reported.

For the year, existing home sales rose 4.9% to 5.16 million, the first gain in four years.