Free Republic

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Existing home sales sank 8 percent last month, to the lowest pace on record, according to the latest reading on the state of the battered real estate market released Wednesday. Sales of existing homes slowed to an annual pace of 5.04 million in September, compared with a revised 5.48 million sales pace in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. Last month's decline marks the largest since the current measure of existing home sales - which includes multiple-family dwellings - began in 1999. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast that sales would slow to a...