TUESDAY JAN 8, 2008 (Foodconsumer.org) -- Sales of second-hand homes in November was slower than early predicted, suggesting that the deterioration in the housing market has no sign to recover any time soon, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The National Association of Realtors' index of pending home sales dropped 2.6 percent to 87.6, although October saw a 3.7 percent gain that was larger than previously estimated, the trade organization said today in Washington.

This news should not be a surprise as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson early predicted that the housing recession would continue, posing a risk to the already weakened economic expansion.

Economists blamed the drop in sales of existing homes on tightened lending practices the mortgage bankers adopted after the collapse in subprime mortgages and speculation that home prices will keep falling.

Paulson was quoted as saying today of the housing market "There is no evidence it is bottoming.''   He said a plan may be needed to offer help to more than those subprime homeowners hit hard by a wave of foreclosures.

Bloomberg early projected that economists would predict the index of signed contracts for existing homes would fall 0.7 percent following a 0.6 percent increase in October previously reported.