Although prices remained weak, the volume of existing homes sold in March of this year rose slightly – 3.7 percent – over February[1]. Although not ecstatic, economists do appear to believe that this number is indicative of positive movement in the housing industry, with the National Association of Realtors (NAR)’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, calling the number “decent…[but] not a great figure.” The median sales price for existing homes was down 5.9 percent from last year. Yun added that he believed that sales in 2011 would rise compared to 2009, adding hopefully that “perhaps the bottoming in sales activity is already over.”
Robert Dye, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group, echoed Yun’s sentiments, stating that “We’re on a recovery track, it’s just going to be slower than we would all like”[2]. Not surprisingly, 39 percent of the properties sold were distressed to some degree, and a third of all transactions last month were done in cash. This is the highest volume of all-cash transactions since NAR started tracking in 2008.
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[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110420-710337.html
[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-20/sales-of-existing-homes-in-u-s-probably-increased-in-march.html
