Home Sales Climb Two Percent in October

Increase of 11 percent over last year

The pace of sales for previously owned homes rose in October, despite the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, in the latest sign of improvement for the long-battered housing market.

Existing home sales rose to an annual rate of 4.79 million, seasonally adjusted, the National Association of Realtors reported on Monday. That's up 2.1% from September, when the revised annual rate of existing home sales was 4.69 million. And it's an increase of 11% year-over-year, when the annual rate was 4.32 million.

That was also stronger than the forecast from analysts at Briefing.com, which called for an annual rate of 4.7 million existing home sales in October.