Apparently, the Midwest is home to the fastest sliding home markets in the country. Not by price- but by sales.
The Associated Press reports that Midwest home sales, which includes a 12-state region, fell 18% in February from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. The nationwide home sale average was a decline of just 10%.
However, prices in the Midwest fell 8% year-over-year, the second-smallest drop of any region.
So- sales are plunging but prices are not.
Conclusions?
From the Associated Press:
Chicago; Wichita, Kan.; Indianapolis; Des Moines, Iowa; and Kansas City, Mo., posted the biggest losses in the region, dropping by 25 percent or more.
Home sales in Chicago plummeted by 65 percent in February from a year ago, one of the worst showings in the nation, according to the AP-Re/Max report. The median home sale price has also fallen, declining 23 percent to $179,000.
Israel Fuentes, a real estate agent with Home Center in Chicago, said buyers who would normally have taken advantage of lower home prices are now staying out of the market, afraid that prices will continue to crater. He said the problem has only worsened as more homes go into foreclosure or are being sold short – that is for less than the balance on the mortgage.
“I have never seen so many short sales,” Fuentes said. “Everything that is selling is mostly short sales. There are huge, huge, entire neighborhoods that have basically plummeted (in value).”
Those stressed sales make it virtually impossible for regular sellers to put their properties on the market for good prices, even in higher-valued neighborhoods, he said.
“Everywhere has been touched and affected,” he said. “Properties that I sold for $410,000 a year ago now go for $120,000.”
Midwest home sales fall 18% in February [Associated Press, David Twitty, Mar 23, 2009] [Same article also in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal on Mar 25, 2009]
