SPRINGFIELD (October 24, 2008). Unit home sales increased while the median single-family home sale price decreased slightly in the Capital Area during September 2008, according to figures from the Capital Area Association of REALTORS® (CAAR) Multiple Information Service.

For the month of September 2008, the median home sale price (for all single-family homes and condominiums) was $101,000, revealing a decrease of 0.8 percent from the $101,800 September 2007 price. The year-to-date median home sale price through September of 2008 yielded $105,000 which was identical to the same period in 2007. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

Home sales in the Capital Area during the month of September amounted to 319 units, reflecting an increase of nine units over the 310 sales recorded in September of 2007. Year-to-date home sales through September of 2008 revealed 2,796 unit sales, down 12.5 percent from the 3,195 during the same period in 2007.

“According to CAAR president, Nancy Long, ABR, CRS, GRI, September home sales marked the first time since December of 2007 that home sales for a particular month topped that same month the year before. Although that is encouraging we don’t expect that trend to continue in the near term as we begin to see the effect of the recent turmoil in the financial markets. We expect the balance of the year to continue tracking at 2003 levels.”

“In addition to the encouraging September sales figures another encouraging aspect of our market is the fact that inventory has decline recently. Although the inventory of homes available for sale on the market was at its highest point at the end of July 2008 with 2,041 homes for sale we are now at 1,935 homes for sale on the market today. Additionally, September marked the fifth straight month in a row where the number of new listings taken in was less than the number of new listings taken in for that same month in the prior year,” says Long.

The average cumulative days on market (CDOM) for homes that have sold during September of 2008 was 94 as compared to 82 during September of 2007. For the year-to-date 2008 the CDOM was 104 days as compared to 92 days during this same time in 2007.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that the national average commitment rate for 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgages was 6.04 percent in September 2008, down from the 6.38 average rate during September of 2007.

“Although the days of 100% financing are gone, for those people with a steady job and who pay their bills on time plenty of money is available through both conventional loan programs as well as the increasingly popular government loan programs such as FHA, VA and Rural Development,” said Long.

The Capital Area Association of REALTORS® is the Voice for Real Estate in the Capital Area representing more than 700 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry. The Capital Area’s Resource for Real Estate Information can be found at www.SeeHouses.com.

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