The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) reported a decrease in existing-home sales activity for the month of October. According to the NAR report, existing-home sales fell 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.98 units, about 1.6 percent below sales levels reported one year ago.
"We have favorable affordability conditions, but we need more than that to give buyers with jobs the confidence they need," says Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "This is why a housing stimulus is so critical now to encourage more buyers to draw down the inventory and stabilize home prices."
Freddie Mac reported that 30 year fixed-rate mortgages were averaging 6.2 percent nationally, while recent reports from Wall Street have seen mortgage rates decrease even lower in November. "Mortgage interest rates have been moving up and down in a historically low range, with the fixed rate down to 6.04 percent last week," Yun noted.
|
Average (Mean) Sales Price of Existing Homes by Region |
|
Date |
U.S. |
Northeast |
Midwest |
South |
West |
|
2006 |
268,200 |
299,700 |
205,300 |
230,000 |
371,300 |
|
2007 |
266,000 |
307,100 |
200,500 |
225,600 |
365,900 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
07/08 |
253,300 |
307,100 |
196,900 |
221,100 |
322,400 |
|
08/08 |
245,400 |
300,600 |
196,400 |
220,400 |
294,500 |
|
09/08 |
235,000 |
288,100 |
177,300 |
206,100 |
299,000 |
|
10/08 |
224,700 |
277,000 |
180,100 |
202,200 |
265,100 | |
|
Statistics from the National Association of REALTORS® | |
Total housing inventories were down 0.9 percent for the month of October, marking three consecutive monthly declines since inventory levels peaked in July.