Sales of existing homes unexpectedly plunged in January to their lowest level since June, according to an industry report published Friday. The results were far worse than forecast and suggest the housing recovery will fail without government support.

The National Association of Realtors reported that home resales dropped 7.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units, down from the revised rate of 5.44 million in December.

On an annual basis, sales were up 11.4 percent.

On an earlier NAR report, first time home buyers’ share in the market declined in January while more existing homes were bought by investors.

First-time buyers purchased 40 percent of homes in January which was below the December figure of 43 percent. Of the transactions, 17 percent was attributed to investors up from 15 percent in December.

Friday's report also showed the median price of homes sold in January was $164,700 unchanged from a year earlier but down 3 percent from December’s.

The total number of existing homes on the market dropped 0.5 percent in January to 3.27 million units, which represents a 7.8 month supply at the current sales pace. That's up from a 7.2 month supply in December.