Housing Sales and Prices Continue to Trend Higher

Housing Sales and Prices Continue to Trend Higher

RE/MAX National Housing Report June 2011

Home prices have now risen for four months in a row and sales transactions have risen for five of the last seven months, while the drop in sales prices from 2010 is smaller than it has been in the last three months. The June 2011 RE/MAX National Housing Report, which includes sales data from 53 metro areas in 45 states, indicates that closed transactions rose 7.5% and median prices were up 4.5% from May. Residential inventories continued a 12-month downward trend, most likely due to decreasing foreclosure activity. Although the market had a slow start to this year’s buying season, it now appears to be on track with a more seasonal performance. More metro areas are experiencing positive growth, and growth figures are increasing. Factors that continue to weigh on the market include unemployment, tight lending standards and consumer uncertainty.

"It’s very encouraging that both home prices and sales transactions have now risen for several months in a row,"said RE/MAX CEO Margaret Kelly. "It appears that this market is following traditional seasonal trends as it works its way through a recovery and back to more normal conditions."

Closed transactions in June were 7.4% higher than in May, while still lagging 10.6% behind the level seen in June 2010. The sales increase from May to June was the second highest of 2011 . In June, 47 of the surveyed metro areas experienced a rise in sales, up from 42 in May. Twenty of those metros saw double-digit increases in June compared to 15 in May. Monthly sales increases were the highest in the northeast: Burlington, VT +32.2, Hartford, CT +31.9%, Trenton, NJ +29.1%, New York, NY +27.9% and Boston, MA + 26.6%.

MEDIAN SALES PRICE–YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE

The June 2011 RE/MAX Housing Report shows that home sales prices in June were 4.5% higher than in May, and only two did not see a monthly increase in prices: Albuquerque -1.7% and Honolulu –3.0%. On a year-to-year basis, home prices were 4.9% below June 2010, but 19 metro areas are now experiencing higher home prices than one year ago. In May, only 13 metros had higher prices than a year ago. Some of the most significant yearly increases in home prices occurred in: Pittsburgh, PA +6.6%, Baltimore, MD +4.8%, Des Moines +3.2%, Hartford, CT +3.7% and Washington, DC +3.5%.

The average Days on Market for homes sold in June was 90, down 4 days from the May level. While June marks the 9thconsecutive month the average has been 90 or above, it is the lowest Days on Market the RE/MAX National Housing Report has seen since September 2010, when the average was 88. Days on Market is the average number of days from listing to receipt of a signed contract.

MONTHS SUPPLY OF INVENTORY–AVERAGE OF 53 METRO AREAS

Due to increasing sales and lower foreclosure inventories, the 53 metro areas surveyed in the June 2011 RE/MAX Housing Report had an average Months Supply of Inventory of 6.9, which is unchanged from May, but down significantly from the 9.3 mark seen in June 2010. Overall inventory continued a 12-month trend to lower levels. Inventories were 2.1% lower in June than in May, and down 14.2% from June 2010. The Florida markets continue to see the largest drop in inventory: Miami, FL -50.1%, Orlando, FL -45.1%, Tampa, FL -30.1%, Phoenix, AZ -29.9% , Chicago, IL -25.5% and San Francisco, CA -25.4%.