Home Sales Dip, High Mortgage Rates Cited

High mortgage rates and rising prices continued to plague sales of existing homes in the second quarter, a real estate trade group said today, with 41 states and the District of Columbia posting declines.

At the same time, the National Assn. of Realtors said booming prices made housing most expensive on the West Coast and in the Northeast in the April-June period.

The median price of a home in the San Francisco Bay Area, the most expensive market, was $265,700, the realtors said, compared to Peoria, Ill., which had the lowest median price of $47,700.

The median price means that half the houses sold for more and half for less.

The realtors said their quarterly survey of sales of previously owned homes showed a seasonally adjusted annual resale rate of 3.72 million units, down 3.1% from the January-March quarter.

Association President Ira Gribin said the sales reflected a lagging response to drops in interest rates that began in May.

‘Time ... to Turn’

“It took some time for the market to turn,” he said. “Now, the people who can afford to get in the market are house-hunting.”

Gribin said the survey also indicates, however, that home ownership is slipping further out of reach for first-time buyers in areas with expensive housing.

Washington, D.C., was the only area outside of the West Coast and Northeast ranking near the top of the price list. The nation’s capital had a median price of $139,900.

Ranked second in the median price list behind San Francisco was Honolulu, with a price of $265,500, followed by Orange County, $247,600; Los Angeles, $218,000, and Boston, $188,600.

By region, the West posted an 18.7% median price increase in the second quarter over the April-June quarter of 1988. It was followed by the Midwest, up 4.9%; the South, up 4.6%, and the Northeast, up 3.5%.

The Northeast was the only region to post an increase in sales of existing homes, up 1.3% to an annual rate of 790,000 units, the realtors said.

The West, paced by California, registered a 7.2% decrease to a 640,000 annual pace.