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By Doug Huggins
When one has been in and around the home selling/mortgage business as long as I have, one comes to expect that home sales are “always” slower in the months of December and January. With the holidays and New Year getting started, it’s just the way it has always been.
However where home sales usually decline during the winter months, December marked the sixth straight month with year-over-year gains in home sales.
According to numbers just released by RE/MAX, home sales this December (2011) were 5.7% higher from the previous month and were up 1.1% from the same time period a year ago.
RE/MAX officials stated that this was due to a lower volume of foreclosures hitting the market; the number of homes available for sale fell for the 18th consecutive month and is now 25.7% lower than last year.
“We're pleasantly surprised to see the year end with such strong sales and hope this trend will continue into the traditional spring selling season,” said Margaret Kelly, CEO of Denver-based RE/MAX. “This December jump may be due to increased investor involvement and transactions that were scheduled to occur before the end of the year, but with prices at or very near the bottom and historically low interest rates, consumers are finding real value in this market.”
Of the 53 metropolitan statistical areas examined by RE/MAX in this report, 20 experienced better sales last month than in December 2010, led by Providence, R.I. which had a 32% jump. Other cities that had a notable increase in home sales were Wilmington, Del. (24%), Nashville, Tenn. (21%), Miami (19%), Albuquerque, N.M. (17%) and Chicago (17%).
Meanwhile, home prices remained nearly even from the prior month, but were down 3.5% from last year. The median sales price for sold homes through December was $179,587.
Home prices have declined year-over-year for 15 straight months, RE/MAX said. In last months report, 20 metropolitan areas showed price increases from November, while 11 had a price jump from December 2010. Cities that had year-over-year price raises were Miami, Orlando, Fla., Little Rock, Ark., and Phoenix, Ariz.
RE/MAX said home stayed on the market throughout the country in December for about 98 days. Only July and September had days on the market below 90, at 88 respectively
