Existing-Home Sales Surge 7.4% in November

The nearly year-long upward trend in U.S. home sales continued in November as existing home sales jumped a greater than expected 7.4% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million units, the National Association of Realtors announced Tuesday. At least part of that jump can be attributed to buyers rushing to close deals ahead of the original Nov. 30 deadline for claiming the federal government's new home-buyer tax credit. %%DynaPub-Enhancement class="enhancement contentType-HTML Content fragmentId-1 payloadId-61603 alignment-right size-small"%%The sales figures are a remarkable 44.1% higher than the 4.54 million unit pace of November 2008.