The country’s new-home sales and existing-home sales both increased in September, but they increased over different time frames. New-home sales surged over the month while existing-home sales soared over the year.
Based on data from the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales surged over the year to an adjusted yearly rate of 4.91 million units in September this year, an increase of 11.3 percent from the adjusted annual rate of 4.41 million units in September last year.
On the other hand, based on data from the U.S. Commerce Department, new-home sales soared over the month to an adjusted annual rate of 313,000 units in September this year, an increase of 5.7 percent from the adjusted yearly rate last August. This September increase was a relief after a four-month period of consecutive decreases.
Analysts said that the increase in new-home sales was pushed largely by the decision of new-home builders to drop their prices, with the median home sales price going down by 3.1 percent to its lowest level of $204,400 since October last year.
As what has been happening over the past years, short sales and foreclosure sales were again the main culprits in the lowering of home prices. Bank-owned homes and short sale homes are being sold at an average reduction of 20 percent, widening further the price differences between existing homes and new homes.
New home sales increased over the month in the West and in the South while existing home sales increased over the year in all major regions — the Midwest, South, West and Northeast.
National Association of Home Builders analysts say that new homes account for less than 20 percent of the U.S. housing market but they have significant impact on jobs and revenues. Home builders such as Standard Pacific and Meritage Homes posted losses in their third quarter reports while Pulte Group and Ryland Group announced that they narrowed their losses.
Other analysts point to the lowering of mortgage loan limits and the difficulty in getting loans approval as other reasons for the decrease in home sales across the country. Sellers have been calling on mortgage banks and federal policy makers to help rejuvenate the U.S. housing market by making home buying easier for responsible borrowers.
With cash buyers having obvious advantages over mortgage borrowers, cash purchases accounted for 30 percent of existing home sales in September, with investors leading in purchase total. First time buyers made up 32 percent of all purchase transactions while investors accounted for 19 percent.
Existing home sales and new home sales continue to make the Tampa housing market alive. Contact Tampa4U.com professionals to own a piece of beautiful Tampa real estate.