Home sales show signs of steadying real estate sector

After a record crash in new home sales in May with a dip of 32.7% after the tax credit expiration, new home sales remain slow but have improved 23.6%, showing hope in the new home sector. Existing home sales however have dipped an additional 5.1%. Neither number is pretty, but neither is dramatically good or bad, given the circumstances.

New home sales have falled 17% since this time last year and June was the second slowest sales month on record since the U.S. Commerce Department began tracking in 1963. The first slowest month of course was May 2010.

The median price of new homes sold in June was $213,400 remaining relatively steady over the past year and given a slowing in housing starts, June marks the lowest inventory level in over 40 years.

Existing home sales dip

Existing home sales dipped another 5% in June, but compared to June of 2009, the figure is still up 10% which is the glimmer of hope to be found in the resale home market.

The median price of existing homes for sale was $183,700 in June, also nearly the same as in June of 2009.

Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economis said, “The supply of homes on the market is higher than we’d like to see,” and points to median prices doing well despite the high supply numbers.