December Existing-Home Sales Down but Prices Rise; 2009 Sales Up

Some very sobering news from the National Association of Realtors® today, after a rising surge in sales due to the November deadline for the tax credit in September through November, existing-home sales fell as expected in December. First-time buyers rushed to take advantage of the tax credit and created a nice surge in sales in the prior three months.

In Alameda, we saw real estate sales follow the same pattern as the National trend. The Island’s sales peaked in October with 75 sales. September through November accounted for 168 of Alameda’s 491 sales for last year; 34 percent.

NAR reports prices rose from December 2008 and annual sales improved in 2009. This was also true for Alameda. Alameda reported an 85 percent increase in year-over-year sales for the month and a $4,000 increase in the median home price. Alameda’s median home price for December was $569,000.

Nationally, NAR report existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.45 million units in December from 6.54 million in November, but remain 15.0 percent above the 4.74 million-unit level in December 2008. That is a big number a 16.7 percent drop. As reported in other news organizations economists expected an 11.6% decrease in sales during December, which was a big shock to the markets.

For all of 2009 there were 5,156,000 existing-home sales, which was 4.9 percent higher than the 4,913,000 transactions recorded in 2008; it was the first annual sales gain since 2005. Alameda saw an increase in sales with an 11 percent increase.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $178,300 in December, which is 1.5 percent higher than December 2008. Alameda’s median was a marginal increase, but is still significantly higher the national median.

Total housing inventory at the end of December fell 6.6 percent to 3.29 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.2-month supply4 at the current sales pace, up from a 6.5-month supply in November. Raw unsold inventory is 11.1 percent below a year ago, is at the lowest level since March 2006, and is 28.2 percent below the record of 4.58 million in July 2008. Alameda’s inventory continues to decline; a year-over-year comparison of December show at the end of 2009 there was a 35 percent decline in the number of homes for sale. Today Inventory, shown below, shows that the decline continues.

Inventory Data -- January 25, 2010

. . 1/25/2010 . Total 93 . 94501 77 . 94502 16 . SFR 51 . Condo 20 . Multi-Family 20 . Short Sale 15 . Foreclosure 9 . Price Reductions 29 . High List $1,999,000 . Low List $239,900 .