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Even so, rising interest from potential buyers left U.S. homebuilders slightly less pessimistic about the housing market in December, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index. It rose 2 points this month, reaching its highest level since May 2010. Yet sales are slumping even though mortgage rates have fallen to record lows. This week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed home loan dropped to 3.91 percent, the lowest rate ever, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. In selling new homes, builders must compete with foreclosures and short sales
-- when lenders accept less for a house than what is owed on the mortgage. Sales of previously owned homes are also dismal. They rose slightly last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million units, the National Association of Realtors said this week. That's below the 6 million that economists say is consistent with sales in a healthy market and barely ahead of 2008's revised totals, which were the worst in 13 years.
[Associated
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