American sales of previously owned homes fell less than forecast in October, increasing the odds that housing will have its best year ever.

The 0.1% decrease brought sales last month to 6.75 million single-family houses at an annual rate from 6.76 million in September, the National Association of Realtors said in Washington. The pace was a record 6.92 million in June.

Resales were expected to fall to a 6.72 million annual rate.

“With low interest rates and an improving job market we’re seeing some extraordinary numbers in housing,” said Van Davis, chief executive officer of Foxtons North America, the Long Branch, N.J.-based arm of Foxtons, a British real estate brokerage firm.

October’s sales were the fourth-highest ever, helped by most job gains in seven months and mortgage rates that are less than a percentage point above an all-time low. Resales may total 6.55 million for all of 2004, beating last year’s record of 6.1 million, the Realtors’ association forecast before yesterday’s report.

“We’re still seeing strong demand in both the new and existing-homes markets,” said Bob Moulton, president of Manhasset, New York-based Americana Mortgage Group Inc., in an interview. “Thirty-year mortgages haven’t increased like everyone thought they would.”

The median selling price of existing homes was $187,000 last month, up 0.7% from $185,700 in September, yesterday’s statistics showed. The median price is up 8.8% from the same month last year.

Sales of previously owned homes account for 85% of the residential real-estate market in America and increased to a record 6.1 million last year. The association forecast on November 5 that sales this year would climb to 6.55 million and ease back to 6.3 million in 2005.

Sales fell 1.3% in the Northeast to an annual rate of 750,000; 2.8% in the Midwest to 1.37 million; and 3.6% in the West to 1.86 million. Sales rose 3.7 percent in the South to 2.77 million.

Purchases of existing homes are tabulated when transactions close, often a month or two after a contract is signed. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell below 6% in August and September after increasing earlier in the year, according to Freddie Mac, the second biggest buyer of American mortgages, behind Fannie Mae.

The rate fell to 5.72% in October from 5.76% in September. It fell to an all-time low 5.21% in June 2003. At the October average, the cost for each $100,000 borrowed is about $582 a month, compared with $550 when the rate was its lowest ever.

In the third quarter, the median price for previously owned homes was $188,500, up 7.7% from the same three months last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. In the second quarter, prices rose 8.9% over the past year.

The group said in a separate report last week that prices increased in 115 of the American cities and surrounding areas that it tracks, fell in 11 and were unchanged in one.

For the second straight quarter, the biggest price increase was in the area around Las Vegas, where costs jumped 54% from the third quarter of last year.

The American homeownership rate in the third quarter was 69%, down from the record 69.2% in the prior three months, the latest government figures showed.

While prices have increased, America’s homeowners are not over-leveraged, according to the Homeownership Alliance, a Washington-based coalition of more than 15 organizations.

The latest Federal Reserve data show that mortgage payments accounted for 9.87% of disposable incomes in the second quarter of this year. While the highest in a year, it compares with ratios exceeding 10% in 1990 through the first half of 1992.

“America’s homeowners are not over-leveraged, and measures of financial obligations remain within historical ranges,” according to the Homeownership Alliance report.

The inventory of houses for sale increased to 4.3 months’ supply from 4.2 months, according to yesterday’s statistics.

Payroll gains may be contributing to home sales. American employers added 337,000 workers in October, the biggest gain since March, after adding 139,000 the prior month. Workers’ average hourly earnings increased 0.3%, or by 5 cents, to $15.83 after a 2-cent gain in September.

“To the extent that the economy’s growing, there’s wage growth, and there is good job creation out there, that bodes very, very well for the homebuilding business,” Donald Tomnitz, chief executive of D.R. Horton Inc., said. The Arlington, Texas, company is the largest homebuilder.

For that reason, Mr. Tomnitz said, the market will withstand likely increases in the benchmark interest rate from the Fed.