Sales of existing homes fell in March, according to an industry report released Thursday, but analysts say the housing market is showing signs of stabilization.
The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million units, 3% lower than the downwardly revised rate of 4.71 million in February.
March sales were down 7.1% year over year, and came in weaker than the 4.65 million rate forecast by analysts surveyed by Briefing.com.
Despite last month’s decline, existing home sales appear to be stabilizing, according to Ian Shepherdson, economist at High Frequency Economics.
“Sales are volatile month-to-month, but the trend appears to be flattening off,” Shepherdson said in a research note.
Single family home sales, which are considered the core of the market, fell at a 10% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2009, after a 17.4% drop in the last three months of 2008. At the current sales pace, existing-home sales will be down “only” 2% in the second quarter, according to Shepherdson.
First-time buyers made up 53% of existing home sales in March. Charles McMillan, NAR’s president, said first-time buyers are “crucial” to a recovery in the overall housing market.
“The housing market always heals from the bottom up, and with large numbers of first-time buyers entering the market it will become a little easier for sellers to trade up or down,” McMillan said in a statement.
Meanwhile, sales of “distressed properties” accounted for over half of all transactions in March. Foreclosed homes typically sell for 20% less than traditional homes, according to NAR.
“Clearly foreclosure activity is driving the marketplace,” said Adam York, an economist at Wachovia Economics Group, in a research report. “Buyers are clearly looking for ‘bargains,’ if they are looking at all.”
Existing home sales in the West declined 4.2% in March. Sales in the South and the Northeast also fell, while sales in the Midwest were unchanged.
The national median existing-home price was $175,200 in March, up 4.2% from $168,200 in February. Still, the median existing-home price was down more than 12% since March 2008, when it was $200,100.
The total number of existing homes on the market at the end of March fell 1.6% to 3.74 million units. At the current sales pace, it would take an estimated 9.8 months to sell that inventory of properties. That’s up slightly from 9.7 months in February and January.
“The inventory overhang has stabilized too,” Shepherdson said. But the number of existing homes on the market remains historically high, and prices will continue to fall rapidly “for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Source: money.cnn.com
Reposted from: http://www.timandjulieharris.com/
Lea is a Real Estate Agent in Los Angeles, CA
For your real estate needs, please call
(323) 294-0094 ext 227
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
This is exciting news during a time where most Real Estate Professionals and consumers are hearing nothing but doom and gloom regarding the real estate market.
Don't forget about the $8,000 tax credit that some may qualify for if a home is purchased before Decemeber 1, 2009.
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An estimated 36,215 new and existing homes and condos sold in California last month, a 23.9% month-on-month increase from February and 47.4% year-on-year increase from March 08, according to a report published Thursday by San Diego-based MDA DataQuick Information Systems. March marked the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year sales inclines.
Sales prices continue to slip in the Golden State, however, with March posting a median sales price of $233,000 — 0.4% below February’s median and 37.7% below the year-ago median seen in March 08. DataQuick attributed the drop to the work of depreciation in concert with shifts in the types of homes sold toward foreclosure properties. Real estate-owned (REO) properties accounted for 57.4% of monthly sales in March, up from 35.5% in March ‘08.
California home buyers in March committed to an average mortgage payment of $958, 44% below the average payment entered in March ‘08, 63.1% below the latest bubble’s June 2006 peak and the lowest average monthly payment, adjusted for inflation, reported in DataQuick’s statistics, which track information back to 1988.
“Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions,” say DataQuick researchers. “Foreclosure activity is nearing its 2008 peak, while financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is at an all-time low, as is financing with multiple mortgages.”
A continued increase in Bay Area home sales and continued decrease in median sales price indicates stabilization forces at work, while a “significant” slowing of the pace of median sale price declines suggests the nine-county market might be near its bottom, DataQuick found. A total of 6,325 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area in March, at a median sales price of $290,000.
“For now, the extent to which prices have fallen in the upscale markets is more difficult to gauge because many of those areas are essentially in hibernation, with scant sales,” said DataQuick president John Walsh in a press statement.
March sales in the area average 9,025 with a high of 12,645 in March ‘04, the information provider said. March ‘09 marked the third-slowest March on record with DataQuick.
“More than any other region, the Bay Area is waiting for so-called jumbo loans to come back on line,” adds Walsh. “Even with prices off their peaks, most home purchases in the upper half of the market still require a mortgage for more than $417,000, which are far more difficult to come by. We think there’s a good chance those larger loans will become more available during the second or third quarter.”
Source: HousingWire.com
Reposted from http://www.timandjulieharris.com/
Don't forget about the $8,000 tax credit that some may qualify for if a home is purchased before Decemeber 1, 2009.
*****************************************
An estimated 36,215 new and existing homes and condos sold in California last month, a 23.9% month-on-month increase from February and 47.4% year-on-year increase from March 08, according to a report published Thursday by San Diego-based MDA DataQuick Information Systems. March marked the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year sales inclines.
Sales prices continue to slip in the Golden State, however, with March posting a median sales price of $233,000 — 0.4% below February’s median and 37.7% below the year-ago median seen in March 08. DataQuick attributed the drop to the work of depreciation in concert with shifts in the types of homes sold toward foreclosure properties. Real estate-owned (REO) properties accounted for 57.4% of monthly sales in March, up from 35.5% in March ‘08.
California home buyers in March committed to an average mortgage payment of $958, 44% below the average payment entered in March ‘08, 63.1% below the latest bubble’s June 2006 peak and the lowest average monthly payment, adjusted for inflation, reported in DataQuick’s statistics, which track information back to 1988.
“Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions,” say DataQuick researchers. “Foreclosure activity is nearing its 2008 peak, while financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is at an all-time low, as is financing with multiple mortgages.”
A continued increase in Bay Area home sales and continued decrease in median sales price indicates stabilization forces at work, while a “significant” slowing of the pace of median sale price declines suggests the nine-county market might be near its bottom, DataQuick found. A total of 6,325 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area in March, at a median sales price of $290,000.
“For now, the extent to which prices have fallen in the upscale markets is more difficult to gauge because many of those areas are essentially in hibernation, with scant sales,” said DataQuick president John Walsh in a press statement.
March sales in the area average 9,025 with a high of 12,645 in March ‘04, the information provider said. March ‘09 marked the third-slowest March on record with DataQuick.
“More than any other region, the Bay Area is waiting for so-called jumbo loans to come back on line,” adds Walsh. “Even with prices off their peaks, most home purchases in the upper half of the market still require a mortgage for more than $417,000, which are far more difficult to come by. We think there’s a good chance those larger loans will become more available during the second or third quarter.”
Source: HousingWire.com
Reposted from http://www.timandjulieharris.com/
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