Existing home sales rise by 2.9% in April
Falling prices for previously occupied homes nudged sales nationwide slightly higher from March to April, a trade group reported Wednesday.
The National Assn. of Realtors said home sales were up 2.9% in April from March, prompted by a median price 15.4% below the price a year earlier.
Total sales last month, however, were 3.5% below the total number of homes sold the same month a year earlier, the real estate industry group said.
The median sale price for all existing homes in April was $170,200. Homes in foreclosure accounted for 45% of April sales, down from just over half of purchases in March.
First-time home buyers constituted 40% of purchasers last month, down from 53% of buyers in March, according to the trade group’s survey of agents and brokers.
The drop in first-time buyers shows a rising interest in home buying among current owners, the group’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said.
Yun also said more foreclosed properties would be released for sale later this year, after various voluntary and government-mandated foreclosure moratoriums pass.
The West, where foreclosures have been widespread and price declines have been massive, was the only region to show an increase in sales from a year earlier. April sales were up 19.4% from April 2008.
The Northeast showed the biggest monthly jump in sales, with April’s total up 11.6% over March. But last month’s sales there were still down 10.5% from April 2008.
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