The month of November saw home sales resuming a growth trend since bottoming in July, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.  Existing-home sales rose 5.6%, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million in November from 4.43 million in October. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is hopeful for 2011. “Continuing gains in home sales are encouraging, and the positive impact of steady job creation will more than trump some negative impact from a modest rise in mortgage interest rates, which remain historically favorable,” he said. Yun added that home buyers are responding to improved affordability conditions.  “The relationship recently between mortgage interest rates, home prices and family income has been the most favorable on record for buying a home since we started measuring in 1970,” he said. “Therefore, the market is recovering and we should trend up to a healthy, sustainable level in 2011.” The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $170,600 in November, up 0.4% from November 2009.  Total housing inventory at the end of November fell 4.0% to 3.71 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.5-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 10.5-month supply in October. NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., said good buying opportunities will continue. “Traditionally there are far fewer buyers competing for properties at this time of the year, so serious buyers have a lot of opportunities during the winter months,” he said. “Buyers will enjoy favorable affordability conditions into the new year, although mortgage rates are expected to gradually rise as 2011 progresses.”  “In the short term, mortgage interest rates should hover just above recent record lows, while home prices have generally stabilized following declines from 2007 through 2009,” Yun said. “Although mortgage interest rates have ticked up in recent weeks, overall conditions remain extremely favorable for buyers who can obtain credit.” Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 2.7% to an annual pace of 770,000 in November but are 33.0% below the cyclical peak in November 2009 (this peak was caused by buyers trying to beat the deadline for the federal buyer credits). The median price in the Northeast was $242,500, which is 9.2% higher than a year ago. This article is based on one which appeared in RISMEDIA, December 23, 2010; the data source is the National Association of Realtors.  For more information, visit www.realtor.org.