November 27, 2012 (Jeff Alan)
Monthly sales of existing homes recovered from August and September’s losses with a solid gain in October according to RE/MAX’s National Housing Report (NHR) while monthly home prices slumped for a third consecutive month but were still up year-over-year.
With three more business days in October than September, closed transactions of home purchases increased 5.4 percent leaving homes sales for the month 17.8 percent higher than in October of 2011, more than enough to mark the 16th consecutive month that home sales have increased year-over-year.
Forty-eight out of the 53 metro areas in the report posted year-over-year increases in closed transactions, up from 29 in September. Providence, RI (+48.0%), Chicago, IL (+44.0%), Albuquerque, NM (+39.3%), Burlington, VT (+37.0%) and Wichita, KS (+32.2%) recorded the highest year-over-year gains in closed transactions in October.
The median sales price of the homes sold in October was 3.7 percent lower than in the previous month of September, falling from $164,989 to $158,900. The median sales price was still 2.1 percent higher than the median price of $155,630 in October of 2011. It was the ninth consecutive month that home prices have increased year-over-year following 18 months of declines.
Forty-eight of the 53 metro areas posted higher sales prices in October than they did a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month. The areas that posted the largest price gains during the month were Phoenix, AZ (+33.9%), San Francisco, CA (+31.2%), Detroit, MI (+26.3%), Boise, ID (+24.7%) and Miami, FL (+22.0%).
Housing supplies continued to dwindle with the average monthly inventory of homes for sale declining by 6.3 percent from September and 28.9 percent from October 2011. It was the 28th consecutive month that the supply of homes for sale has declined.
With the declining inventory and the increase in sales for the month, the average month’s supply of homes for sale fell for the fourth time in five months, falling from a 5.5 months supply of homes in September to a 5.2 months supply in October and down from a 7.7 months supply in October of last year.
The average number of days it took for a home to sale nudged up slightly to 82 days in October from 81 days in September but was still lower than the 95 days it took a year ago.
Tags: home sales, home prices, seasonal trends, closed transactions, median sales price
Source:
RE/MAX
