July 2009 Report on Existing Home Sales

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Listings, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, Shout Outs, Uncategorized

There is nothing more promising than a real estate existing home sales report. Unlike the new home sales market, the existing home must fight harder for a sale thanks to huge incentives and price cuts by builders who are trying to sell the last homes in a development. According to the July 2009 report, the existing homes sales are growing and that makes every real estate agent happy.

In April of 2009, 4.66 million existing homes were sold in the United States. The May 2009 sales were up 2.4% to a whopping 4.77 million home sales. For the first time in many years, this marks a two month concurrent increase in the sale of homes that have been previously owned. When comparing the existing homes sales from May 2009 with May 2008, we notice a small 3.6% decrease in overall sales.

Parallel to the increase in home sales, the median home price for May 2009 also rose by $6,400 over the month of April. When comparing the price to the median for May 2008, we see nearly a 17% drop in the sales price of homes. This means that even though more homes are being sold, the sales price remains much lower than a year ago.  The median home price for May was $173,000.

Regional Sales – Where is the Hottest Real Estate Market Right Now?

It is no new news that the West reported sales decreases in the month of May. The Western United States has been most heavily hit by the real estate slump. Even though the region market a near 1% decrease in home sales, the overall outlook for the year is good with a 12% increase in existing home sales.

Both the Northeast and Midwest reported increases in home sales moving from the month of April into May, but these increases are shadowed by the overall decrease in both home sales and median home prices from the previous year. The South, on the other hand, remained flat for the month of May.

The median home sales prices for regions paralleled the overall home sales with the West being the only region to note a decrease in median home sales price.

Financial experts are noting that the business world is redefining success in all forms of business. Flat numbers are considered the new increase and small decreases are considered the new flat. Businesses, including real estate, may look at these numbers and see hope and that is exactly what the numbers portray.