Existing home sales in March remained below 1989 levels for the second straight month as mortgage interest rates stayed in the double-digits, a real estate trade group reported Wednesday. The National Association of Realtors said resales of single-family homes totaled a seasonally adjusted 3.40 million units, unchanged from the number of sales in February but down from the 3.52 million rate in January. The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of sales for the year would be if the pace were maintained for 12 consecutive months. During all of 1989, actual sales totaled 3.44 million units. Realtors chief economist John A. Tuccillo said the 3.40 million pace, the slowest since a 3.38 million rate last July, was sustainable for the rest of the year. The Commerce Department is scheduled to report new home sales for March next Monday. New home sales rose 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 607,000 units in February after plunging 6.8 percent the previous month. But the pace of sales remained below the 649,000 new homes sold in 1989 and analysts placed the blame on mortgage rates and declining consumer confidence. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgages averaged between 10.22 percent and 10.34 percent during March, high when compared to the single-digit rates at the end of 1989. The Realtors said the high rates had a dual effect on the existing home market. Consumer uncertainty triggered purchases by prospective buyers fearing higher rates in the future while it curbed sales by others hoping for lower rates in the months ahead. ``The rate-watchers who are making their move now tend to be in less expensive markets,'' said Realtors president Norman D. Flynn. ``Those who are holding back in hopes of rate declines tend to be in the higher-priced markets.'' The Realtors said the national median price of existing homes was $96,100 in March, up $900 from February. The median price of a new home in February was $130,000, according to the Commerce Department. The median means that half of the homes cost more, half less. Existing home sales in the Northeast continued to be sluggish in March, falling 16.9 percent to an annual rate of 490,000 units. The median price there was $148,200, up 3.3 percent from the previous month. Sales also fell in the West, down 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 640,000. The median price was $143,300, the same as February's. Sales were unchanged at an annual rate of 890,000 units in the Midwest where the median price was $72,900, down 1.6 percent. The South posted the only sales gain, up 3.8 percent to 1.36 million units. The median price was up 0.9 percent to $86,000.
