For the 7th straight month, residential property sales in the United States inched higher, rising 3.4% above the level seen last January, according to the latest RE/MAX national housing report.
After an unexpected jump in sales at the end of 2011, January sales returned to a seasonal norm and were down on a monthly basis 19.3% from December. Perhaps due to falling foreclosure numbers, January was the 19th consecutive month that inventory levels dropped. The number of homes for sale last month was 24.1% lower than the number seen in January 2011. In the 53 metro areas, home prices were down only 0.8% from one year ago, building a trend of much anticipated price stabilization.
"This positive start to the year will hopefully set the tone for a continuing housing recovery that's drawing home buyers with low interest rates and low prices," said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX, LLC. "If sales continue ahead of last year's pace and inventory does not increase significantly, we could start to see increasing home prices this year."
The year-over-year increase in January was 3.4%. Of the metro areas included in the January survey, 20 saw double digit jumps from a year earlier, and 36 experienced higher sales, including Albuquerque up 33.9%, Wilmington-Dover, Delaware, up 33.2%, Atlanta up 26.3%, Indianapolis up 19.6%, Providence, Rhodes Island, up 19.6%, Nashville up 19.5%, Cleveland up 18.9% and Chicago up 15.3%.
The Median Sales Price of sold homes in the 53 surveyed metros was $129,306 in January 2012. This price reflects a 3.4% drop from December, but is only 0.8% lower than the price seen in January 2011.
The average Days on Market in January 2012 was 103, which is 5 days higher than the 98-day average in December and 4 days higher than the average in January 2011.
The average inventory of homes for sale in January 2012 dropped 4.2% from December and also dropped 24.1% from January 2011.
