Housing Market, October | featured news

Americans bought slightly more new homes in October, a hopeful sign for the troubled housing market. But the median sales price fell to its lowest level of the year, and the overall sales pace is trailing last year's - the worst in half a century.

U.S. single-family home prices fell for a fourth straight month in October pressured by a supply glut, home foreclosures and high unemployment, data from a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

The number of U.S. homes taken over by banks fell 9 percent in October as foreclosure processing was stalled by questionable paperwork, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

The number of homes with tentative buyers reached its highest level in three years in October, as Americans took advantage of a credit for first-time homeowners.

That's 30.7% down from the same month last year. Analysts had recently forecast a 1.7% rise in housing starts.