February real estate sales decline; National Association of Realtors; increasing inventory of unsold homes.

The National Association of Realtors has published the latest real estate sales data:

Sales of existing homes fell for a third straight month in February, pushing sales down to the lowest level since last July. There is concern the fragile housing rebound is faltering, making it harder for the overall economy to recover.

The slowdown itself is creating more downward pressure on prices:

Last month, the inventory of unsold homes jumped by 312,000 to 3.59 million, an unusually large increase that pushed the supply of unsold homes to 8.6 months.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, called that increase "discomforting" and said if it climbs above 10 months supply it could put significant downward pressure on prices.

Previous - 2009 predictions for housing prices.
Competing factors affecting real estate prices.