Home Sales Drop 10.7%

September 24, 2008 10:15am by Barry Ritholtz

The good news is, the pace of the Housing slow down is now decelerating.

The bad news, there is no bottom in sight.

And seasonally, we usually see an uptick in activity in August, as last minute closings take place befroe the new school year begins. No such bump happened in August 2008, as sales slipped 2.2% for the month.

Median existing-home price for all housing types was $203,100 in August, down 9.5% from August 2007 median price of $224,400.

Single-family home sales fell to an annual rate of 4.35 million in August. This is 9.6% below the 4.81 million-unit level a year ago.

Another small positive: The inventory of unsold homes at the end of August was 10.4 months versus 10.9 months’ at the end of July. Still way too high, but improved somewhat.

Existing Home Sales, Non Seasonally Adjusted, 2005-08

chart courtesy of Calculated Risk

Source:
Existing-Home Sales Slide on Tight Mortgage Availability
WASHINGTON, September 24, 2008
http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2008/ehs_tight_mortgage_slide

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