The
National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales were stable in July with "increases in the West and Northeast offset by a decline in the Midwest, according to the National Association of Realtors®."
Total existing home sales dropped by .2% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.75 million. This is 9% below the 6.32 million-unit level in July 2006.
The median prices dropped by .6% to $228,900 from $230,200, the highest monthly price on record. Thus, despite all of the talk of the sky falling, prices have fallen less than 1%.
Invenstories are rising though:
"Total housing inventory rose 5.1 percent at the end of June to 4.59 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an upwardly revised 9.1-month supply in June."
Overall, this paints a picture of a mixed real-estate market with the high-prices Northeast and West Coast doing better than the South and Midwest. It appears that the areas where prices dropped first are also the first to start to experience a bounce. I project that prices will continue to firm over the next couple of months despite the mortgage problems of the last few weeks. If anything, many markets may soon present a buying opportunity.