Sales of previously occupied homes in the U.S. fell sharply for the second straight month in January but remain above year-ago levels, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. Existing home sales dropped 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units in January from a revised 5.44 million in December, the association reported. Still, sales remained 11.5 percent above the 4.53 million- unit level in January 2009, the NAR said. The results, the weakest since June, were far worse than forecast. Economists expected a slight increase to a rate of 5.5 million. Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist, said some delays remained between shopping and closing that affected current sales. 'Most of the completed deals in January were based on contracts in November and December. People who got into the market after the home buyer tax credit was extended in November have only recently started to offer contracts, so it will take a couple months to close those sales,' he said. 'Still, the latest monthly sales decline is not encouraging, and raises concern about the strength of a recovery,' he said. 