Home sales will hit a five-year low this year, as wary lenders cut back on loans for many borrowers, a trade group for real estate agents said Wednesday.

The National Association of Realtors’ revised forecast calls for existing home sales of 6.04 million in 2007, down 6.8 percent from last year. The forecast was 1 percent lower, or 70,000 fewer homes, than July’s prediction of 6.11 million.

This year’s sales would be the lowest since 2002, when sales hit 5.63 million. Last year’s sales were 6.48 million.

The National Association of Realtors expects new single-family home sales to fall 18.9 percent and single-family housing starts to plummet 23 percent this year from 2006 levels, according to the group’s latest forecast.

The median price of new homes is expected to fall 2.3 percent this year, with the median existing-home price falling 1.2 percent compared to 2006, the group also reported.

Existing-home sales are expected to fall 6.8 percent this year to 6.04 million, compared with 6.48 million in 2006, and to rebound to 6.38 million in 2008. The forecast calls for new single-family home sales to reach 852,000 this year, compared with 1.05 million in 2006, and to fall further to 848,000 in 2007.