U.S. Home Sales Improved in August

By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: September 23, 2010

The National Association of Realtors said that August sales were 4.13 million on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, down 19 percent from August 2009 but up 7.6 percent from the previous month.

One strong effect on prices will be the supply of homes on the market. Supply declined slightly in August but is still at an elevated level. It takes about year to sell a house, the Realtors’ group said. That is more than double the time in a healthy market.