Home sale prices drop nationally in April, but what about Chester County?
I found this article today on Bloomberg that said that home prices dropped nationally by 6.8% in April. REMEMBER – real estate is LOCAL, not national, so this report needs to be taken with that in perspective. It certainly speaks to our overall economy. Yet another factor, that I wrote about, is that activity or Pending Home Sales in April were up 6.7%. So, while prices are continuing to come down, activity is up. I believe that is a good sign overall and a HUGE sign that right now is a fantastic time to buy, especially with the interest rates continuing to be sub-6%.
So how is Chester County doing? Every month I highlight how various areas of Chester county are doing from a real estate perspective. Consider these facts from just last month:
- Day’s On Market (DOM) dropped by 10%
- Settled price rose 2%
- The List to Sale ratio rose by 1%
- The number of pending sales rose 3%
- Number of sold homes rose a whopping 10%
Here are some of the “Reality” Checks (all comparing to May 2008):
- Days on Market are up 21%
- Settled price was down 12%
- Pending homes were down 16%
- Sold homes were down 14%
Look for my June statistics coming up in just a week and a half. Below is the article from Bloomberg
U.S. Home Prices Drop 6.8 Percent in April as Foreclosures Rise
By Brian Louis and Kathleen M. Howley
June 23 (Bloomberg) — U.S. home prices fell 6.8 percent in April from a year earlier as rising unemployment and record foreclosures kept buyers out of the market.
Measured monthly, the average price fell 0.1 percent from March, the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Washington said today. The number was projected to drop 0.4 percent in April, according to the median forecast of 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey.
The housing slump has reduced the median price of an existing home 26 percent from the July 2006 peak, pushing affordability to near record levels. Prospective buyers are now being constrained by rising mortgage rates, the highest unemployment since 1983 and concern the housing rebound will be anemic.
