Existing home sales spike 5%. Realtors group says sales of existing hones rose in February, but prices tumble fore than 15%.
Sales of existing homes unexpectedly rose in February, recovering from a sharp drop in the previous month, according to an industry report released this week.
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You read that correctly… The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales rose last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units, up 5.1% from a rate of 4.49 million in January. February sales were down nearly 5% from year ago levels.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting existing home sales to decline to 4.45 million.
The report said first-time buyers made up half of all purchases in February, and that sales of distressed properties accounted for about 45% of all transactions.
Sales were unexpectedly strong in the West, with activity increasing more than 30% over last year.
"February wasn't too shabby for the existing-home market," said Mike Larson, real estate analyst at Weiss Research. "The catch? The increase in sales activity is coming at the expense of pricing."
The national median existing-home price was $165,400 in February, down 15.5% from last year, when the median price was $195,800.
Prices were depressed by the large number of foreclosed properties on the market, said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.
"Our analysis shows that distressed homes typically are selling for 20% less than the normal market price, and this naturally is drawing down the overall median price."
Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said there's a "good chance" the collapse in home sales that has been going on since September is "now over."
This information was provided by: Real Estate Investment Resources and appeared in the Real Estate Realtor Newsletter.
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Monday, March 30, 2009
Existing Home Sales Spike 5%
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