Tuesday, February 27, 2007From the Press-Enterprise newspaperJANUARY REPORT: The rise is the largest in two years as sellers begin adjusting their prices downward.
By MARTIN CRUTSINGERThe Associated Press WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes rose in January by the largest amount in two years, raising hopes that the worst of the slump in housing may be coming to an end. Median home prices, however, fell for a sixth-straight month.The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes rose 3 percent last month, the biggest one-month increase since a 3.3 percent increase in January 2005, when housing was headed toward the peak of its five-year boom.
Price DropThe median price of an existing home sold in January dropped to $210,600, a decline of 3.1 percent from a year ago.The January decline was the third-biggest drop in history.Analysts said that the decline in prices was actually an encouraging sign that home sellers are starting to adjust their asking-price down and this should help speed the correction in housing."For the last several months I have been hemming and hawing on whether we have reached bottom," said David Lereah, chief economist for the Realtors. He said that the January report was an encouraging sign that the bottom for sales activity was reached in September with sales expected to stabilize this year.
Weather FactorBut he cautioned that the warm weather in December boosted home closing in January, the activity that is tracked in the Realtors report. He said there could be a bit of a payback in coming months.By region of the country, sales rose the most in the West, up 5.6 percent, followed by gains of 4.8 percent in the Midwest and 2 percent in the South. Sales in the Northeast were unchanged in January compared to December.In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported that orders to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged 7.8 percent in January, the largest decline since October and more than double what analysts had been expecting.
Labels: Corona, Foreclosure, Home Prices, Inland Empire, Loan Modification, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Real Estate, Riverside, Short Sales, Statistics, Temecula
