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Area home sales fall as U.S. sees gains

Buyers' credit boosts activity in October to highest level since February 2007, but Summit misses trend

By Beacon Journal staff and wire reports

POSTED: 07:34 p.m. EST, Nov 23, 2009

Home sales in Summit County dropped in October from a year ago, while sales elsewhere in Ohio and the nation rose — in some cases to surprisingly high levels.

The $8,000 first-time homebuyers credit is the main reason for the overall rising sales, real estate groups and others said today.

Home resales last month surged nationally to the highest level in 21/2 years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of the expiring tax credit.

The National Association of Realtors said sales rose 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million in October, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in September. Sales exceeded industry expectations.

It was the highest sales level since February 2007. Sales, which were nearly 24 percent above last year's level, had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5.65 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The median U.S. sales price was $173,100 down 7.1 percent from a year earlier, and off 1.6 percent from September.

In Summit County, the Akron Area Board of Realtors reported that there were 372 single family homes sold in October, down from 417 homes sold in September. There were 419 homes sold in October 2008.

The average sales price last month was $128,115, slightly above the average of $127,596 in October 2008.

September was a slow sales month and that was reflected in the October closings figures for Summit County, said Cindy Slabaugh, president of the Akron Area Board of Realtors. The bulk of buyers had already completed deals to be in a home by the time school started at the end of summer, she said.

But the November figures should show an increase based on activity she and others have seen in October, in large part due to the rush to complete deals to qualify for the first-time homebuyers credit, she said.

While sales dropped locally, homes in the area will move in 30 to 40 days if the sellers price them for a lower-cost market and if the properties are well maintained, Slabaugh said.

In the county, 62 homes sold for less than $30,000 apiece; 123 of the 372 sales were for under $70,000 each. There were 137 homes that sold for $100,000 to just under $200,000.

One home sold for between $2 million and $2.9 million, the Akron group reported. Two homes went for between $500,000 and $749,999.

Home sales rose across Ohio, according to the Ohio Association of Realtors. The group reported that 10,090 new and existing homes sold in the state during October, up 3.6 percent from the number that changed hands in September.

The trade group said the statewide average sale price last month was nearly $132,600, down 1 percent from September but 0.7 percent higher than the average of about $131,700 paid in October 2008.

The $8,000 tax incentive had been set to expire Nov. 30 before Congress provided an extension earlier this month into 2010. Ohio Association of Realtors President Jonathan Hall said that should help to keep momentum going in the state's housing market.

Economist Ken Mayland, head of ClearView Economics in Pepper Pike, said the first-time homebuyers credit ''has moved the needle on home sales'' but at a cost to taxpayers.

There ordinarily would have been a relapse in sales with the expiration of the tax credit but the extension now goes into April 30, the early portion of the 2010 selling season, he wrote in a note to clients.

While inventories of unsold homes are down to the lowest level in two years, foreclosures still represent a big portion of sales. ''It is important that they be sopped up,'' Mayland wrote.

Condo and co-op sales exceeded single-family sales nationally, Mayland said. ''This is helpful, since some of the worst overbuilding occurred in the condo/co-op market,'' he said.

The Federal Reserve's efforts to keep interest rates ''super low'' and to add ''considerable liquidity'' to the housing and mortgage markets also helped home sales, Mayland wrote. But he said it won't last forever, and added a warning that ''you don't get something for nothing.''

Beacon Journal business writer Jim Mackinnon contributed to this story.

 

Home sales in Summit County dropped in October from a year ago, while sales elsewhere in Ohio and the nation rose — in some cases to surprisingly high levels.

The $8,000 first-time homebuyers credit is the main reason for the overall rising sales, real estate groups and others said today.

Home resales last month surged nationally to the highest level in 21/2 years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of the expiring tax credit.

The National Association of Realtors said sales rose 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million in October, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in September. Sales exceeded industry expectations.

It was the highest sales level since February 2007. Sales, which were nearly 24 percent above last year's level, had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5.65 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The median U.S. sales price was $173,100 down 7.1 percent from a year earlier, and off 1.6 percent from September.

In Summit County, the Akron Area Board of Realtors reported that there were 372 single family homes sold in October, down from 417 homes sold in September. There were 419 homes sold in October 2008.

The average sales price last month was $128,115, slightly above the average of $127,596 in October 2008.

September was a slow sales month and that was reflected in the October closings figures for Summit County, said Cindy Slabaugh, president of the Akron Area Board of Realtors. The bulk of buyers had already completed deals to be in a home by the time school started at the end of summer, she said.

But the November figures should show an increase based on activity she and others have seen in October, in large part due to the rush to complete deals to qualify for the first-time homebuyers credit, she said.

While sales dropped locally, homes in the area will move in 30 to 40 days if the sellers price them for a lower-cost market and if the properties are well maintained, Slabaugh said.

In the county, 62 homes sold for less than $30,000 apiece; 123 of the 372 sales were for under $70,000 each. There were 137 homes that sold for $100,000 to just under $200,000.

One home sold for between $2 million and $2.9 million, the Akron group reported. Two homes went for between $500,000 and $749,999.

Home sales rose across Ohio, according to the Ohio Association of Realtors. The group reported that 10,090 new and existing homes sold in the state during October, up 3.6 percent from the number that changed hands in September.

The trade group said the statewide average sale price last month was nearly $132,600, down 1 percent from September but 0.7 percent higher than the average of about $131,700 paid in October 2008.

The $8,000 tax incentive had been set to expire Nov. 30 before Congress provided an extension earlier this month into 2010. Ohio Association of Realtors President Jonathan Hall said that should help to keep momentum going in the state's housing market.

Economist Ken Mayland, head of ClearView Economics in Pepper Pike, said the first-time homebuyers credit ''has moved the needle on home sales'' but at a cost to taxpayers.

There ordinarily would have been a relapse in sales with the expiration of the tax credit but the extension now goes into April 30, the early portion of the 2010 selling season, he wrote in a note to clients.

While inventories of unsold homes are down to the lowest level in two years, foreclosures still represent a big portion of sales. ''It is important that they be sopped up,'' Mayland wrote.

Condo and co-op sales exceeded single-family sales nationally, Mayland said. ''This is helpful, since some of the worst overbuilding occurred in the condo/co-op market,'' he said.

The Federal Reserve's efforts to keep interest rates ''super low'' and to add ''considerable liquidity'' to the housing and mortgage markets also helped home sales, Mayland wrote. But he said it won't last forever, and added a warning that ''you don't get something for nothing.''

Beacon Journal business writer Jim Mackinnon contributed to this story.



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skeptical
Tallmadge, oh

Posted 08:44 PM, 11/23/2009

Yowza. Just wait til the tax credit expires, and all those "Hope for Homeowners" re-negotiated loans fail. We are not at the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning.














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