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| NAR applauds stabilization of metro home prices  State existing-home sales in the first quarter generally are below a year ago but more states are improving than reported in the fourth quarter of 2006, and home prices in most areas show that conditions are favoring buyers, according to the latest quarterly survey by the National Association of Realtors. Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 6.41 million units in the first quarter, down 6.6 percent from a 6.86 million-unit pace in the first quarter of 2006, but are 2.4 percent higher than the fourth quarter 2006 level of 6.26 million.In the first quarter, metro area existing single-family home prices, comparing changes in 145 metropolitan statistical areas 2 show 82 metros had price increases from a year ago, including 11 areas with double-digit annual gains; 62 had price declines, and one was unchanged. In the fourth quarter, 71 areas had reported price gains. Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, said the data shows a broad stabilization. "Essentially, we see that the existing-home market is stabilizing in a broad cyclical trough and moving in the right direction, with a modest gain from the fourth quarter. Conditions changed fairly rapidly during the boom, but we need more patience now to see a slow, gradual recovery, which should start in the second half of this year", he said. The national median existing single-family home price was $212,300 in the first quarter, down 1.8 percent from a year ago when the median price was $216,100. In the fourth quarter, the median price was reported to be 2.7 percent below a year earlier. According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate on a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage was 6.22 percent in the first quarter, down from 6.25 percent in the fourth quarter; the rate was 6.24 percent in the first quarter of 2006. Last week, Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed rate dropped to 6.15 percent. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |