Jeremy W. Peters | New York | April 25

New York Times - A rebound in residential real estate remains elusive.

After two months of stronger sales and some tentative suggestions that the housing market was stabilizing, sales last month of previously owned homes took their biggest tumble in nearly two decades.

The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that sales of existing homes, which account for the vast majority of all home sales, fell 8.4 percent in March. That was the steepest monthly decline since January 1989.