Some encouraging news coming out of Washington today – the National Association of Realtors said that sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose for a third month in December to the highest level since January 2011, a sign the housing market ended last year with momentum.Purchases increased 5 percent to a 4.61 million annual rate. The gain helped push down the inventory of homes for sale last month to the lowest level since 2005. Low mortgage rates and a pickup in employment may be giving Americans the confidence to purchase homes that have fallen in value.
