July Home Sales Higher by 10.3 Percent
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The July RE/MAX National Housing Report follows the trend of every month this year, with increasing sales and increasing prices. July home sales are 10.3% higher than sales last July and year-over-year home sales have now risen for 13 consecutive months, according to the report.
Median home prices have now reached levels higher than the previous year for six months in a row, with an increase of 3.7% over July 2011.
"It's reassuring that both sales and prices continue to rise higher on a yearly basis, indicating that this housing recovery is real," said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX, LLC. "Overall, the picture is getting brighter each month, but what we need for a sustainable recovery is a turn-around in unemployment and better availability of mortgages, especially for higher priced homes."
The report notes that inventory is now becoming a serious challenge to this recovering market, with available homes-for-sale falling 26.8% lower than the same month last year. Home sales could be much greater if more inventory was available, especially in the lower price range, where most sales are now occurring.
With increased demand and shrinking inventory, the average Days on Market of homes sold in July was 82.
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Median home prices have now reached levels higher than the previous year for six months in a row, with an increase of 3.7% over July 2011.
"It's reassuring that both sales and prices continue to rise higher on a yearly basis, indicating that this housing recovery is real," said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX, LLC. "Overall, the picture is getting brighter each month, but what we need for a sustainable recovery is a turn-around in unemployment and better availability of mortgages, especially for higher priced homes."
The report notes that inventory is now becoming a serious challenge to this recovering market, with available homes-for-sale falling 26.8% lower than the same month last year. Home sales could be much greater if more inventory was available, especially in the lower price range, where most sales are now occurring.
With increased demand and shrinking inventory, the average Days on Market of homes sold in July was 82.
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