Existing Home Sales Up for 2003

David Lereah, the National Association of Realtor’s chief economist, said final figures for existing-home sales will total almost 6.07 million in 2003, up 9.1 percent from the previous record of 5.57 million in 2002.

“Existing-home sales should come in at about 5.85 million in 2004, still the second-best on record,” he said. “We’ll see a similar pattern this year for new homes with 1.01 million sales, off from a record of about 1.08 million for 2003.”

He expects housing starts to total 1.84 million units for 2003, the best performance since 1978, with 1.71 million units projected for this year. Lereah said growth in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast at 4.7 percent for 2004.

“The biggest turnaround in 2004 likely will be in the manufacturing sector, with business spending and job creation picking up steam — that will help to bring the unemployment rate down to 5.4 percent by the end of the year.” He expects GDP to grow another 4.0 percent in 2005.