Pending home sales rose in November in Philadelphia area

The eight-county Philadelphia region appeared to experience a big boost in pending home sales in November, even as the deepening recession helped push the national numbers to an eight-year low.

In the area, pending home sales rose 23.1 percent from October, according to The Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert Report's Pending Sales Index, using data from Trend Multiple Listing Service.

"October was the height of the financial meltdown and paralyzed many home buyers in the marketplace, causing a steep drop in pending-sales activity in October," said Steve Storti, senior vice president of Prudential Fox & Roach Inc. "In November, the market saw a shift back to more typical activity for a November."

But the index locally was 24.8 percent lower than in November 2007.

The index measures sales contracts for existing homes that are signed during a month and are expected to close in 60 to 90 days.

The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that its nationwide index fell 4 percent in November from October and was 5.3 percent below November 2007.

TD Bank N.A. chief economist Joel L. Naroff found the local numbers for November hard to believe.

"Bad data, or, more than likely, someone didn't report their contracts in October and they got pushed into November," he said. "I don't think it is a sudden boom."

The national drop was easier to explain.

"Given that we are talking about November, when few financial institutions were willing to give mortgage loans, this drop was not a surprise," Naroff said.

A weakening in the national numbers was inevitable, said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

"Mounting job losses and very weak consumer confidence deterred home buyers from signing contracts in November," he said. "December's housing-market activity could be comparably lower due to ongoing problems in the economy."

The Philadelphia region's prices also continued to fare better than those of many other major metro areas in the closing months of 2008.

Radar Logic Inc., a New York real estate data analysis firm, said yesterday that median prices in the eight-county region fell 5.3 percent in October from the same month in 2007.

Only Columbus, Ohio, and Charlotte, N.C., had lower price declines year-over-year. New York City prices fell 6.1 percent; San Francisco had the worst drop - 34.4 percent.

Prices in the Philadelphia region were up 4.6 percent over the last five years, placing it third behind Seattle and New York and in front of Milwaukee and Jacksonville, Fla.

Areas with high foreclosure rates showed huge increases in the number of home sales in October, with San Diego topping the list at a 92.3 percent year-over-year rise.

Philadelphia-area transactions fell 31.8 percent that month.