According to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®, tightening credit standards for those applying for home mortgages will likely dampen home sales in the short term and postpone an expected recovery for existing-home sales until 2008.

Lawrence Yun, senior NAR economist, said unusual disruptions in the mortgage market are dampening the outlook for home sales, notably for August and September.  “There’s been an unusual hit to home sales, starting in March when subprime problems emerged and more recently when problems spread to jumbo loans, with many potential home buyers on the sidelines.”  He noted, however, that “the volume of existing-home sales this year will be better than 2002, which was the second year of the housing boom.”

Let’s take a look at August sales statistics to see how the market looks in Wayne and Oakland counties.

In Wayne County, the average sale price continued to decrease in August - from $127,541 in 2006 to $110,540 in 2007 - a 13% drop.  The median sale price also decreased - from $102,000 in August 2006 to $78,250 this August.  Additionally, the average days on the market increased 9% from 93 days to 102 days.

Oakland County market activity continues to follow a similar trend as Wayne County.  The average sale price decreased 8% in August 2007 from August 2006 while the median price dropped from $181,000 to $169,450.  Market times also increased - from 108 days to 121 days - an 11% jump.