Existing Home Sales Drop
The National Association of Realtors reported this week that existing home sales in March dropped 8.4%. Unfortunately, the drop in home sales will probably also translate into a drop in home prices. If that happens, it will mark the first time since the Great Depression that the median home price will drop.
The median home price in March was $217,000, compared with $213,600 in February. This represented a 0.3% drop from a year ago to $217,000. In February of 2007, the NAR was still forecasting a a 1.9% increase, but now says prices will likely drop across the nation 0.7% from 2006 levels. They now believe that the real estate market will not begin to recover until 2008 instead of late in 2007 as projected previously.