August Home Prices Stable as Inventories Continue to Decline

September 15, 2011 (Chris Moore)

Home prices continued to show signs of stability in August as the median list price for existing homes remained the same for the third consecutive month despite homeowners having to wait even longer to sell their homes according to the latest data housing released by Realtor.com

Total listings of existing homes decreased 1.90 percent from July with a total of 2,267,327 single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops listed for sale in August compared to 2,311,279 in July. The number of homes listed for sale in August was 19.0 percent lower than a year ago.

The median list price for an existing home in August was $189,900, unchanged from the median list price for the previous two months. The median list price was 0.48 pecent higher than in August 2010.

The area with the largest year-over-year decline in the median list price for the second consecutive month was Chicago, IL, where the median price has dropped 13.05 percent since August of 2010. The median list price from July to August was unchanged for the second consecutive month.

The area with the largest year-over-year increase in the median list price, for the third consecutive month, was the Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL area where the median price has increased 33.21 percent since August of last year. However, the median price in the area decreased by 2.07 percent from July to August. Miami continued to run a close second with year-over-year median list prices increasing by 24.56 percent.

The average list price for an existing home in August was $320,325, which was a 0.40 percent increase from July’s average list price of $319,046 and 2.63 percent higher than August 2010.

The average number of days that an existing home spent on the market climbed to 103 in August compared to 97 days in July. Seventy-two out of the 146 metropolitan areas required 100 days or more to sell a home.

The Southeastern area of the United States continued to dominant the list of homes that take the longest the sell led by the southern region of South Carolina at 172 days, but many areas of the Northeast joined the list in August led by Reading, PA, at 138 days.

Tags: Realtor.com, housing inventory, listed homes, home prices, median sales price, average list price

Source:
Realtor.com
LoanRateUpdate.com