MSNBC.com reports in, Home sales tumble as first-time buyers back off, that sales of previously owned homes fell more last month (December 2009) than in any other month in the last 40 years: 16.7% according to the National Association of Realtors. However, for the first time in the last four years, home sales actually ended the year with an annual gain. And in one of those “not since the Great Depression” events, across the board, home prices fell more than 12 percent last year, the biggest fall “since the Great Depression”.