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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pace of U.S. existing home sales rose an unexpected 3.9 percent in February to a 6.69 million-unit annual rate as mild weather spurred home buying, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters were expecting existing home sales to slide to a 6.31 million rate. It was the biggest rise since an matching increase in March 2004.
Inventories rose 5.9 percent to 3.748 million units available for sale, or a 6.7 months' supply at the current sales pace.
Woes in the subprime mortgage market are likely to cut sales of new or existing homes by up to 250,000 a year over the next two years, NAR economist David Lereah said.