The supply of resale condos, co-ops, townhouses and single-family homes mushroomed to 11.2 months in April and prices dropped 8 percent year-over-year, the National Association of Realtors reported today.
A supply greater than six months is generally indicative of a buyer’s market, and the supply is a gauge of how long it will take to deplete the inventory of for-sale homes based on the sales pace.
The supply of single-family homes for sale reached 10.7 months in April, the highest level since June 1985 when it stood at 11.4 months. And the supply of condos and co-ops jumped to 14.2 months in April.
By comparison, the average months’ supply for all resale home types was 4.4 months in 2005.
The median price of resale homes dropped 16.7 percent in the West, 7.7 percent in the Northeast, 5.1 percent in the South and 2.9 percent in the Midwest in April compared to the same month last year.
Resale home sales dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million in April, down 17.5 percent year-over-year and down 1 percent compared to March. This rate is a projection of a monthly sales total over a 12-month period, adjusted to account for typical seasonal fluctuations in sales activity.
The sales rate for single-family resale homes dropped 16.1 percent year-over-year in April and dropped 0.5 percent compared to March, while the sales rate for resale condos and co-ops dropped 5.2 percent compared to March and plunged 27.9 percent compared to April 2007.
Regionally, the sales rate for all resale home types toppled 19.7 percent in the Midwest, 18.6 percent in the South, 15.3 percent in the West and 14.7 percent in the Northeast year-over-year in April. Sales were up 6.4 percent in the West, flat in the South, down 4.4 percent in the Northeast and down 6 percent in the Midwest in April compared to March, NAR reported.
The median price of all resale homes was $202,300, while the median price for resale single-family homes was $200,700 and the median price for resale condos and co-ops was $214,900. The single-family price dropped 8.5 percent and the condo and co-op price fell 3.7 percent in April compared to April 2007.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.92 percent in April, compared with 5.97 percent in March and 6.18 percent in April 2007, NAR reported.
***
What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor.
