July Home Sales News: Not So Good

• August 24th 2010

by UrbanTurf Staff

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Existing home sales in the U.S. dropped to their lowest level in over a decade in July, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported on Tuesday. Home sales for the month were down 27.2 percent when compared to June.

Analysts expected a drop-off in sales, but more in the 13 percent range. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said that the sales drop-off would be temporary — provided that the economy improves.

As for the DC area, the news was not quite as bad. While sales volume dropped just over 18 percent when compared to July 2009, the average sales price actually increased by almost 14 percent to $550,687, according to DC Home and Condo Prices monthly analysis of the area housing market for July.

(Note: The DC Home and Condo Prices report indicates that the average price increase is a little deceptive thanks to 50 or so properties that sold for over $1 million.)

Available inventory also grew significantly during July (23.3 percent increase for condos and 35.73 percent increase for single-family homes), and while this may be indicative of what is happening around the country, July is traditionally one of the slower months in real estate meaning less buyers out there to snatch up homes on the market.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/july_home_sales_not_so_good/2415.