Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slumped in October to their slowest pace in more than 13 years, as surging mortgage rates and rising prices kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines. Existing home sales fell 4.1% last month from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.79 million, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. That’s short of the 3.90 million sales pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Sales sank 14.6% compared with the same month last year. The national median sales price rose 3.4% from October last year to $391,800.
