Existing home sales fell 3 percent in September, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The seasonally adjusted rate in September was 4.91 million, down from the revised August figure of 5.06 million, which was a five-month high. Still, the current rate is 11.3 percent above the 4.41 million unit pace in September 2010.
Single-family home sales fell 3.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.33 million in September from 4.49 million in August, but are 12.2 percent above the 3.86 million-unit level in September 2010. The median existing single-family home price was $165,600 in September, down 3.9 percent from a year ago.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market has been stable although at low levels, and there is plenty of room for improvement. "Existing-home sales have bounced around this year, staying relatively close to the current level in most months," he said. "The irony is affordability conditions have improved to historic highs and more creditworthy borrowers are trying to purchase homes, but the share of contract failures is double the level of September 2010. Even so, the volume of successful buyers is higher than a year ago and is remaining fairly stable - this speaks to an unfulfilled demand."
NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., said access to credit is unbalanced. "All year we've been discussing the fact that many creditworthy home buyers are being denied mortgages," he said. "On top of that, loan limits have been lowered, which means buyers of higher priced homes, including many in more expensive housing markets, now have to pay a higher interest rate for a jumbo mortgage than buyers who can qualify for a conventional loan. We need to remove the roadblocks to a housing recovery-not place more obstacles in the way of financially qualified buyers."
In related housing news, remodeling activity is expected to remain weak through the first half of 2012.
