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CAPITAL REGION
Pace of local home sales slows
Realtors say existing home sales rose nationwide in July July sees 20 percent decline from year earlier
BY JAMES SCHLETT Gazette Reporter
The Associated Press


    The greater Capital Region’s housing market lacked fireworks in July, posting its increasingly common slower home sales and steady values.
    Closed single-family home sales regionwide continued at a lethargic pace last month, declining 20 percent to 801 from 996 a year earlier. Refusing to give ground, the region’s median sale price over the year rose 2 percent to $210,000, according to statistics released Monday by the Greater Capital Association of Realtors.
    GCAR officials viewed the lackluster statistics for July — traditionally a hot sales month for the market — without surprise. GCAR Chief Executive Officer James Ader said they “certainly refl ect what we all feel: a slower than usual market.”
    For the first seven months of 2008, sales totaled 4,639, down 16 percent from the same period of last year. During the same period, the region’s median sale price rose 1 percent to $193,600.
    A tug-and-pull over home values continued to play out throughout the region. Five percent pricing corrections hit both Rensselaer and Saratoga counties, sending their median sale price to $175,000 and $255,000. Schenectady County rebounded with a 6 percent increase in its July media sale price after posting a 6 percent decline a month earlier.
    Nationwide, single-family home sales in July totaled 4.39 million, down 12.4 percent from a year earlier. During the same period the nation’s median sale price dropped 7.7 percent to $210,900, according to statistics also released Monday by the National Association of Realtors.
    WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes rose in July, surpassing expectations, as buyers snapped up deeply discounted properties in parts of the country hit hardest by the housing bust.
    However, the number of unsold properties hit an all-time high, the latest indication that the worst housing slump in decades is far from over. Prices nationwide are not expected to hit bottom until early next year.
    The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales rose 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units, up from June’s downwardly revised rate of 4.85 million units. Sales had been expected to rise by only 1.6 percent, according to economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.
    “The process of a recovery has begun,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. “It’s not going to be short and swift, but it’s begun nonetheless.”
    Home sales were about 13 percent lower than a year ago and prices were down dramatically. The median price for a home sold in July dropped to $212,000, down by 7.1 percent from a year ago.
    Despite the third monthly sales increase this year, the number of unsold single-family homes and condominiums rose to 4.67 million, the highest number since 1968, when the Realtors group started tracking the data.
    That represented a 11.2-month supply at the July sales pace, matching the all-time high set in April.

I find it difficult to accept.  If you look through the gazette the past month or so, they were listing oodles of houses that sold in Schdy county.  But they also show Saratoga County and that only get's a listing periodically and fewer in the same time frame

Oh, woops, I just noticed it said July.  The listings in the paper I was referring to were earlier than that.  

But then, if sales fell in July, couldn't it be because people bought in a different month?  I get so frustrated when I hear/read about sales are down, are flat, or whatever.  I've always felt that new car sales were better toward the end of the year, obviously the dealers are trying to get rid of this year's models and will probably offer some good deals.  Then the news reports give this dismal report come the new year when they say "car sales were down in January," or the first quarter of the new year, etc.  Duh.  If people who originally were going to buy in Feburary but couldn't pass up the good deal in November, well, common sense.

The numbers reflect CLOSED sales in the given month.  Despite the decline in number of transactions, the bright spot for "our" area is that median sales price has held tough.  When housing numbers get released it's also important to pay close attention to whether they are EXISTING HOME sales or NEW HOME sales and whether they are local numbers (from GCAR) or national numbers (from NAR) which have been a tad bleaker.  It can get confusing and many don't realize the subtle distinctions in figures released.