Exisitng home sales were essentially unchanged in July, with increases in the West and Northeast offset by a decline in the Midwest, according to the National Asociation of Realtors.
Total existing home sales including single family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops slipped 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 1 of 5.75 million units in July from an upwardly revised pace of 5.76 million in June, and are 9.0 percent below the 6.32 million unit level in July 2006.
Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, said the market is holding on despite temporary mortgage disruptions. Home sales probably would be rising in the absence of the mortgage liquidity issues of the past two months, he said. Some buyers with contracts have been scrambling when loan commitments did not materialize at the last moment, while other potential buyers are simply waiting for the mortgage market to stabilize.
The rise in sales and prices in the Northeast region on a fairly cosistent basis in recent months is promising because this was the first region that underwent sales and price weakness after the boom. Now, it appears that it will be the first region to climb back, indicating that other regions could follow a similiar path.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30 year, conventional, fixed rate mortgage was 6.70 percent in July, up from 6.66 percent in June; the rate was 6.76 percent in July 2006. Last week, Freddie Mac reported the 30 year fixed rate dropped to 6.52 percent.
The national median existing home price for all housing types was $228,900 in July, down 0.6 percent from July 2006 when the median was $230,200, the highest monthly price on record. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
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