WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes grew by 5.5% in September, but were only 1.1% higher than in September 2007, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

There were 5.18 million existing homes sold in September, compared with 4.91 million in August and 5.11 million in September 2007.

The association reported that September was the first time since November 2005 that sales were above the levels of the same period the year before.

“Credit tightened at the end of September, but the improvement demonstrates that buyers who've been on the sidelines want to get into the market and want to make a long term investment in their future,” National Association of Realtors President Richard F. Gaylord said in a statement.

The median price for an existing home was $191,600, down 9% from $210,500 September 2007.

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.04%, compared with 6.48% in August and 6.38% in September 2007.

In September, existing home sales increased in the Midwest, South and West but were below the previous September's in all regions except the West. Sales fell in the Northeast and were also down from September 2007.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Lending