Sales Down and Prices Flat

The National Association of Realtors just released their second quarter numbers and it looks like Salt Lake City is the winner. Salt Lake City finished first for the quarter ,its median price of $233,100 rose 21.9 percent from a year ago! Overall, house prices dropped 1.5% from a year earlier.

Despite the relatively good news on prices, home sales declined by 10.8% To me, this is a sign that many sellers have pulled their houses from the market rather than settle with a lower price. I've seen it happening in my area where real-estate listings are way down.

The average inventory is listed at around 8 months which isn't overly high.

Overall, prices are 1.7% off their peak, recorded in the third quarter of 2005. While any drop is obviously undesirable, to me this doesn't register as a catastrophe.