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Health & Fitness

August Existing-Home Sales and and Prices Rise

August Existing Home Sales and Prices increase nationally.

The National Association of Realtors reported today that home prices increased nationally, as the number of home sold increased as well.  Total home sales, which includes single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, and co-ops, rose 7.8% to 4.82 million in August 2012 as compared to July 2012. In addition, home sales increased 9.3%, as compared to August 2011.

Lawrence Yun , NAR chief economist, said "The housing market is steadily recovering with consistent increases in both home sales and median prices. More buyers are taking advantage of excellent housing affordability conditions. Inventories in many parts of the country are broadly balanced, favoring nither sellers nor buyers. However, the West and Florida markets are experiencing inventory shortages, which are placing pressure on prices.

Yun also added that "The strengthening housing market is occurring even with difficult mortgage qualifying conditions, which is testament to the sizable stored-up housing demand that accumulated in the past five years,"

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NAR also made note of statistics demonstrating the continued improvement in the housing market.

  • The median time on market for August 2012 was 70 Days, down 23.9% from August 2011 at 92 Days.
  • 32% of the homes on the market for August sold within 30 days or less.
  • First time buyers accounted for 31% of purchases for August, which has been mostly consistent over the last 12 months.
  • Distressed properties(foreclosures and short sales) accounted for 22% of sales in August as compared to 31% in August 2011.

 

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Moe Veissi, NAR President, was quoted as saying that  "Total sales this year will be 8 to 10 percent above 2011, but some buyers are frustrated with mortgage availability. If most of the financially qualified buyers could obtain financing, home sales would be about 10 to 15 percent stronger, and the related economic activity would create several hundred thousand jobs over the period of a year."

To read the entire article, click here.

Paul Weston: Real Estate Broker for the Malden and Greater Boston area.

Website: www.liveinmalden.com

Twitter: PH_Weston

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