Mortgage Stats

Existing Home Sales Up 9.4% in September: Mortgagestats.com

mortgagestats | 30 October, 2009 02:18

Existing Home Sales

Source:National Association of Realtors

Existing Home Sales up 9.4% in September

Single-family existing home sales jumped 9.4% in September to the highest level in two years as more first-time homebuyers took advantage of the $8,000 tax credit before it is set to expire soon, according to the National Association of Realtors. "Much of the momentum is from people responding to the first-time buyer tax credit, which is freeing many sellers to make a trade and buy another home," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. The Realtors reported that sales of previously owned single-family homes jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million in September from 4.47 million in August. The September report shows that the supply of unsold homes fell to a 7.6-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 9.4-month supply a year ago. In addition, the decline in the sale price is slowing. The median sales price of previously used homes was $174,900 in September, which is 8.1% below the price a year ago. Six months ago in March, the median sales price was down 11.5% from a year ago. "The looming expiration of the tax credit, combined with stabilization in the broader economy and cheap home prices, drove sales to the highest level we've seen in a couple of years, " said Weiss Research analyst Mike Larson. If Congress allows the tax credit to expire on November 30, he warned there will be a "noticeable" slowdown in sales for a couple of months. "I don't think it derails the overall recovery. That's being driven by fundamental forces, such as the dramatic improvement in housing affordability," Mr. Larson said.