Not All the Housing News is Bad: Roanoke Valley Area Outperforms U.S. in Price Growth
Posted by Lee Crawford at 2/09/2010 11:36:00 AM Like the old saying goes, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.” The bad news would be the sharp drop in the number of homes sold from November to December – in both the local and national markets, though both are up from December 2008.
The good news is the strength of the Roanoke Region’s December home prices from a year ago compared to the national average. Roanoke home prices rose 15.4% from $171,332 to $197,748, while still remaining an affordable 12.3% below the national average. Nationally, home prices rose 3.6%.
The number of residential units sold in the Roanoke area, according to the Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS® dropped in December from 333 to 247, but still is up more than 71% from 144 in January (which was the low for the year).
Roanoke’s average price for 2009, $188,855, was 11.5% lower than 2007, again showing more stability than the national average. The 2009 average US home price of $217,300 was more than 18% lower than it was in 2007.
National Association of REALTORS® chief economist Lawrence Yun predicts more swings in the housing market due to the tax credit. “We’ll likely have another surge in the spring as home buyers take advantage of the extended and expanded tax credit,” he said the NAR’s monthly existing home sales news release, adding that “by early summer the overall market should benefit from more balanced inventory, and sales are on track to rise again in 2010.”
0 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
