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March 23rd, 2009 11:32 AM

Biggest jump in more than five years; median price down 15% to $165,400

WASHINGTON - A real estate group says sales of existing homes rose from January to February in an unexpected boost for the slumping U.S housing market as buyers took advantage of deep discounts on foreclosures.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of existing homes grew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 million last month, from 4.49 million units in January. It was the largest sales jump since July 2003.
Sales had been expected to fall to an annual pace of 4.45 million units, according to Thomson Reuters.
But the Realtors still described the sales level as "relatively soft."

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the trade group, said first-time buyers accounted for half of all home sales last month, with activity concentrated in lower price ranges.

“Because entry level buyers are shopping for bargains, distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions in February,” he said in a news release. “Our analysis shows that distressed homes typically are selling for 20 percent less than the normal market price, and this naturally is drawing down the overall median price.”

The median sales price plunged to $165,400, down 15.5 percent from $195,800 a year earlier. The median price of existing homes nationwide is down about 28 percent from the peak in July 2006.

Posted by John Kriza on March 23rd, 2009 11:32 AMPost a Comment (0)

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