December Home Sales -16.7%, Ending 4mo Streak. 2009 Sales Up 4.9% From 2008, First Gain Since 2005.

Lots of headlines have already screamed today that existing home sales fell 16.7% in December, but a few key longer-term data points were absent from most media reports, so those key details on home sales are below, and tomorrow we’ll have the S&P Case Shiller report of national home prices.

After existing home sales for single family homes, condos and townhomes rose four straight months, sales fell 16.7% in December 2009. For all of 2009 there were 5,156,000 existing home sales, which was 4.9% higher than the 4,913,000 transactions recorded in 2008. This was the first annual sales gain since 2005.

In December, first time buyers bought 43% of homes, repeat buyers bought 42% of homes, and investors bought the rest. The national median price for single family homes, townhouses, and condos in December was $178,300. Distressed homes accounted for 32% of sales in December and accounted for 36% of total sales in 2010.

Total housing inventory at the end of December fell 6.6 percent to 3.29 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.2-month supply at the current sales pace.