The September 2010 issue of Your Home is now available. Customize it and send it to clients or post to your Web site.

The 2010 Media Kit and Editorial Calendar for The Residential Specialist magazine is now available.

Q4 2009 Existing-Home Sales Surge
The expanded homebuyer tax credit helped boost existing-home sales in the fourth quarter of 2009, NAR announced. Total existing-home sales in the fourth quarter were 27.2 percent above the level recorded a year earlier. Fourth quarter sales were 13.9 percent higher than the previous quarter, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.03 million. Distressed properties accounted for 32 percent of fourth quarter transactions, which marks a decline from the Q4 2008 rate of 37 percent.

Quarterly sales increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia, with 32 states posting double-digit gains. Year-over-year sales rose in 49 states. But pricing pressure was still a factor in the market. The national median existing single-family home price was $172,900 in the fourth quarter, which is 4.1 percent below the median price recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

“The surge in home sales was driven by buyers responding strongly to the tax credit combined with record low mortgage interest rates,” says NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “With inventory levels trending down over the past 18 months, we expect broadly balanced housing market conditions in much of the country by late spring with more areas showing higher prices.”

Visit NAR’s Web site for more detailed metropolitan area existing-home prices and state existing-home sales data. Fri, Feb 12, 2010

Return to the News