Sales of existing homes continue their decline
WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes fell in 46 states during the July-to-September quarter as the housing market's slump worsened, a real estate trade group reported yesterday.
WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes fell in 46 states during the July-to-September quarter as the housing market's slump worsened, a real estate trade group reported yesterday.
While sales in Pennsylvania and New Jersey dropped, both states did better than the national average, which was a decline of 13.7 percent from the third quarter a year earlier. Sales of existing homes were down 13.4 percent in New Jersey and 3.2 percent in Pennsylvania.
The third-quarter figures from the National Association of Realtors underscore the severity of the housing market's slump, which has economists increasingly pessimistic about the nation's overall economic outlook.
Vermont and North Dakota were the only states to show sales increases. Existing-home sales rose 0.8 percent in Vermont from the same quarter a year earlier and 2.9 percent in North Dakota.
No sales figures were available for Idaho and New Hampshire.
The Realtors saw a silver lining in the data, however, noting that home prices rose in 93 of the 150 metropolitan areas surveyed.
Yet big price drops plagued formerly booming parts of the country. Median prices fell more than 10 percent in parts of Florida and California from the third quarter of 2006. The median is the price at which half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
In the Philadelphia area, the median price was up 2.9 percent from a year earlier at $243,000. The area consists of Philadelphia and the four suburban counties in Pennsylvania; South Jersey from Burlington County to the Shore; New Castle County, Del.; and Cecil County, Md.
Trade-group officials emphasized that the real estate market is not a national one and that conditions vary - sometimes dramatically - from market to market.
"Some metro areas are hot while others are experiencing localized problems," Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, said in a statement. "Home prices in the vast midsection of America, from the Appalachians to the Rockies, are affordable and, perhaps, even undervalued."
Still, numerous experts forecast a continued decline in median prices nationwide as conditions deteriorate in the housing and mortgage industries.
Declines in sales and prices are a signal that the housing slump that began in 2006 may extend into 2008. That would match the slowdown 18 years ago that ended in the 1991 recession.
The housing decline will reduce growth in the nation's gross domestic product to 2.1 percent in 2007 from 2.9 percent a year earlier, Yun said. Gross domestic product is the broadest measure of the nation's overall economic performance.
Nationwide, existing homes sold at an annual rate of 5.42 million units in the third quarter, compared with a rate of 6.29 million in the third quarter of 2006, the Realtors group said.
Housing Data
Third-quarter figures for existing homes.
Sales, by state
Biggest losersChange*
Nevada-35.3%
Florida-32.0
Arizona-30.9
Massachusetts-28.6
California-27.8
In the Area
New Jersey-13.4%
Pennsylvania-3.2
Prices, by metro area
Median prices, in thousands
Area/PriceChange*
Reading, $162.9+7.0%
Atlantic City,
$273.1 +6.2
Trenton, $328.6+6.0
Philadelphia**,
$243.0+2.9
Allentown, $272.9+1.1
*Changes from 2006 third quarter.
**Philadelphia and the four suburban counties in Pennsylvania; South Jersey from Burlington County to the Shore; New Castle County, Del.; and Cecil County, Md.
SOURCE: National Association of Realtors.