By Ruth Mantell WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sales of existing homes declined 1% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. "Record low mortgage interest rates clearly are helping many home buyers, but tight inventory and restrictive mortgage underwriting standards are limiting sales," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. The rate in November was revised to 4.99 million from a prior estimate of 5.04 million, which was the highest rate since November 2009. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a rate of 5.1 million for December, with buyers eager to take advantage of relatively high affordability in a housing market that is gaining steam. Despite the decline in December, existing-home sales are up 12.8% from the prior year. The median existing-home price rose 11.5% from the prior year to $180,800. Inventories fell 8.5% to 1.82 million units in December, representing at the current sales rate a 4.4-month supply, the lowest supply ratio since 2005. For all of 2012, existing-home sales hit 4.65 million, the highest level since 2007 and up 9.2% from 2011. Meanwhile, the median price reached $176,600 in 2012, up 6.3% from the prior year for the highest annual growth since 2005.

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