By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest evidence that homeownership is becoming increasingly less accessible to many Americans: Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to a nearly 30-year low for the second time in as many years. Elevated mortgage rates, a yearslong shortage of homes on the market and record-high home prices continued to stymie prospective home shoppers, especially first-time buyers. That led existing home sales to fall 0.7% last year to 4.06 million — the weakest showing for home sales since 1995 and edging out the terrible year for sales in 2023, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. Even in the midst of a sales slump, a dearth of homes on the market and rising mortgage rates gave sellers an edge over buyers, helping drive up the national median home price for all of last year to an all-time high $407,500, an increase of 4.7% from a year earlier. “How is it possible that home sales can be this low, considering that the U.S.