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Existing Home Sales
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Existing Home SalesSales in the Roseville housing market fell in September as the inventory of properties up for sale dropped, showing a significant sign that America’s housing sector is still quite a ways from a full recovery despite signs of improvement earlier in the year. The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that existing home sales dropped 1.7 percent from last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million units. A previous report from analysts in a Reuters poll forecasted this decline in the housing market. Across the nation, the median price for a home resale was $183,900 in September, up 11.3 percent from a year earlier as fewer people sold their homes under distressed conditions compared to a year earlier. Distressed sales include foreclosures, which are in calmer waters compared to last year. With sales going at this pace, inventories would be exhausted in 5.9 months, the lowest rate since March 2006, the NAR said.
Lawrence Yun, an economist at the NAR, attributes the low level of inventories partially to a lack of new homes. The rate of groundbreaking on new homes in Roseville rose sharply in September but still was below its peak in 2006 by approximately 60 percent. Existing-home sales in Roseville fell 3.4 percent to a yearly pace of 1.13 million in September but are 0.9 percent above from a year ago. With ongoing inventory shortages in the area, the median price in Roseville was $246,300, which 18.4 percent higher than September 2011. Since then, distressed sales have dropped from 30 percent to 24 percent. When it comes to the bottom line, distressed home sales increased in September of this year from 22 percent in August.
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