The National Association of Realtors (NAR)reported today that prices for existing homes rose by 1.5% in December 2009 over December 2008 to a median home price of $178,300 for all home types.
Lawrence Yun,chief economist for NAR, said, "The median price rose because of an increased number of mid to upper-priced homes in the sales mix."
This was the first year-over-year existing home sales price increase since August 2007.
Existing home price increases have been slowed by the large number of distressed properties on the market due to foreclosures or short sales, which not only are priced below market but also drive down the prices of traditional home sales which must compete with them.
Distressed homes accounted for 32% of all existing home sales in December 2009. For all of 2009, distressed home sales accounted for 36% of the market.
The median price of existing homes for all of 2009 was $173,500, which was down by 12.4% from $198,100 in 2008. Again, the drop is tied to the large number of distressed sales which pull down the median price.
NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tuscon, AZ, said market conditions are challenging in some areas. "There's a shortage of lower priced homes for sale in much of the country, resulting in multiple bids in some areas," she said.
Real estate experts anticipate a rise in home prices in areas with multiple bidding, although many of the properties with multiple offers are low-priced foreclosures.
Separating single family homes and condominiums, existing single family homes were priced at $177,500 in December, which was 1.4% higher than in December 2008. For all of 2009, the single family home median price was $173,200, down 11.9% from all of 2008.
For condominiums and co-ops, the median existing price was $183,700 in December, up 1.0% from December 2008. For all of 2009, the median condo price was $176,100, which is 16.1% lower than in 2008.
Regionally, the median price in the Northeast was $241,700, up 3.2% from December 2008 to December 2009.
In the Midwest, the median existing home price rose 1.8% from December 2008 to December 2009 to $143,200.
In the South, the median existing home price dropped by 1.0% from December 2008 to December 2009 to $152,000.
In the West, the median existing home price rose by 2.7% from December 2008 to December 2009 to $236,000.
Written by Michele Lerner
HULIQ.com
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
