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| February weather hits March home sales  Unusually bad winter weather in February curtailed home shopping, slowing sales that closed in March, which may have been dampened further by a decrease in subprime lending volume, according to the National Association of Realtors. After rising for three consecutive months, total existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 8.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 6.12 million units in March from a pace of 6.68 million in February, and are 11.3 percent below the 6.90 million-unit level in March 2006.David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, expected the drop. "For the last couple months we've been expecting a weather 'hit' on home sales finalized in March, but looking at overall activity in the first quarter we see that existing home sales averaged 6.41 million – a figure that is moderately higher than the sales pace during the second half of 2006, " he said. "We also may be seeing some losses as a result of the subprime fallout. However, this is masking improved fundamentals in the housing market, with lower mortgage interest rates and motivated sellers. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $217,000 in March, which is 0.3 percent below March 2006 when the median was $217,600. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less. However, the percentage change in recent months has been distorted by a geographic shift in the composition of sales from high-cost markets to moderately priced areas, in contrast with the sales distribution a year earlier. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |