NAR Reports Existing Home Sales Stable in July

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.