SPRINGFIELD (July 20, 2011) Unit home sales for single-family homes decreased as did the median home sale price in the Capital Area during June 2011, according to the Capital Area Association of REALTORS (CAAR).

For the month of June 2011, the median home sale price (for all single-family homes and condominiums) was $109,500, a decrease of 13.2 percent from the June 2010 record price of $124,000. The year-to-date median sale price through June of 2011 was 108,000, a 2.8 decrease from the $111,000 price during same period in 2010. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

According to CAAR, there were a total of 350 homes sold in June 2011 as compared to 408 homes sold in June 2010, reflecting a 14.2 percent decrease. Year-to-date homes sales through June of 2011 totaled 1,537, reflecting a 19.6 percent decrease from the 1,912 sales in June of 2010.

“While June numbers on their face may appear to be a poor showing I think that it helps to frame this in the proper context,” said REALTOR Terry Nuding, ABR, CRS, GRI, SFR president of the Capital Area Association of REALTORS. “If you recall, during the first half of 2010 the market was very much being influenced by the homebuyer tax credit resulting in a ramp-up in sales and prices as buyers and sellers raced to get their properties closed by the tax credit deadline of June 30, 2010 which was ultimately extended”, said Nuding.

According to Nuding, a very encouraging statistic for June is CAAR’s sale pending figures. CAAR reports that sale pending figures for the month of June were 424, reflecting an increase of 47.7 percent from the 287 sale pendings in June of 2010. “This bodes very well for July home sale figure which we anticipate will be well ahead of last year. In fact, we fully expect the second half of 2011 to outperform the second half of 2010,” said Nuding.

Nuding said that healthy job creation is necessary to ensure a solid recovery in both housing and the overall economy. “While there are certainly macro-economic considerations that factor into a recovery we must work on the local level to help make this recovery a reality. To this end, the Capital Area Association of REALTORS is proud to be major investor in the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Q5 initiative which continues to lay the seeds of our local recovery,” said Nuding.

The number of homes listed for sale in the Capital area at the end of June of this year was 1,654, reflecting a 5.3 percent decline from the 1,742 listings at the end of June 2010. As of June 19th the number of listings stood at 1,759. Today, we have a 6.9 month supply of inventory based on the average monthly sales rate which is up from the 6.1 month supply during the prior month.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported that the national average commitment rate for 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgages was 4.5 percent in June 2011, down considerably from the 5.2 average rate during June of 2010.

The Capital Area Association of REALTORS® is the Voice for Real Estate in the Capital Area representing more than 800 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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