(Photo: Xinhua)

CHICAGO, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. existing-home sales fell 1.7 percent in November from October, mainly due to low inventory level, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Thursday.

Both the South and West areas reported sales decline in November, while the Northeast and Midwest saw growth.

Total existing-home sales went down 1.7 percent from October to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million in November. However, sales were up 2.7 percent from a year ago.

Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said the overall decline in sales for November is not a cause for worry.

"Sales will be choppy when inventory levels are low, but the economy is otherwise performing very well with more than 2 million job gains in the past year," Yun was quoted as saying.

U.S. housing inventory at the end of November totaled 1.64 million units, down approximately 7.3 percent from October and 5.7 percent from one year ago.

Unsold inventory totals have declined for five consecutive months, constraining home sales, said NAR.

The median existing-home price for all housing types in October was 271,300 U.S. dollars, up 5.4 percent from November 2018 and prices rose in all regions.

"The new home construction seems to be coming to the market, but we are still not seeing the amount of construction needed to solve the housing shortage," said Yun.