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Existing Home Sales Decline in October

By sharon | December 8, 2008

Given the current situation of the economy—deteriorating economy, rising unemployment, and collapsing stock-market, a lot of prospective home buyers get out of the market, causing the decline of the existing home sales and home prices in October.

According to the report of the National Association of Realtors, home sales have dropped by 3.1% from 5.14 million in September to 4.98 million in October. Economists expect sales to have declined by 5.05 million in October, which on a year-over-year basis is about 1.6%.

Talking about median existing-home prices, there have been a drop of 11.3% from October of last year to October of this year, which shows a decline from $206,700 to $183,300. While in September, median price was $191,400. Median existing-home price on an October has been the lowest since March of 2004, wherein the value was $183,200. This means that homeowners who have been living in their houses for 4 ½ years realizes that the worth of their homes are the same or even less than its value when they first bought them.

Statistics show that 45% of total home sales in October are actually distressed sales.
Falling home prices makes the market move toward “price equilibrium”. There are still a lot of homes to be sold. As October has ended, the total housing inventory has eased by 0.9% reaching 4.23 million existing homes, which is equivalent to a supply for 10.2 months, up from September’s 10-month supply.

Nationwide, sales have declined; but those in the West have increased by 37.5% since buyers take advantage of sales in Nevada and California.

A report by RealtyTrac has said that 84,868 homes have been foreclosed last month and foreclosure filings have increased by 5% in October.

Wherever this foreclosure crisis will take the economy is quite uncertain for now. But factors that can help in determining this are consumer confidence, employment rate, and stock market condition.

Related Posts:

• Increase in Foreclosures Drags Home Price in Northern California by 41 Percent
• Surge in Sales of Bay Area Foreclosed Homes
• Home Prices Fell Due to Increasing Bank Owned Foreclosures
• Foreclosed New Homes Are Being Sold Aggressively in Marin
• Repossession Property Prices Fall, Affordability Rises

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