PARAMOUNT MORTGAGE - LENDER'S BLOG

Nine Consecutive Gains for Pending Home Sales
 
Washington - Pending home sales have risen for nine months in a row, a first for the series of the index since its inception in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October increased to 114.1 from 110.0 in September, and is 31.8 percent above October 2008 when it was 86.6. The rise from a year ago is the biggest annual increase ever recorded for the index, which is at the highest level since March 2006 when it was 115.2.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home sales are experiencing a pendulum swing. "Keep in mind that housing had been underperforming over most of the past year. Based on the demographics of our growing population, existing-home sales should be in the range of 5.5 million to 6.0 million annually".

"We were well below the 5-million mark before the home buyer tax credit stimulus," Yun said. "This means the tax credit is helping unleash a pent-up demand from a large pool of financially qualified renters, much more than borrowing sales from the future."

Yun cautioned that home sales could dip in the months ahead. "The expanded tax credit has only been available for the past three weeks, but the time between when buyers start looking at homes until they close on a sale can take anywhere from three to five months."

In the local St. Louis Market, Trulia.com, the Real Estate Search web site has ranked a field of forty four area zip codes by homebuyer popularity. Analysis  shows the average median sales price is $129,833 for September/November.

St. Louis homes under a median sales price of $150,000 represent the hottest area of this market. Average sales price, price per square ft., median sales price and listing price are tracked each month.

Here are the top ten St. Louis zip codes

Zip Codes	Median Sales Price	Year to Year Gain/Loss
63109	$125,000	13.00%
63129	$133,100	-25.30%
63128	$143,016	-27.20%
63116	$76,773	10.80%
63108	$135,538	-31.00%
63124	$214,631	-61.00%
63139	$102,487	-12.10%
63118	$78,573	12.40%
63119	$143,944	-22.20%
63146	$146,397	-16.00%

Yun predicted "as inventories continue to decline and balance is gradually restored between buyers and sellers, we should reach self-sustaining housing conditions and firming home prices in most areas around the middle of 2010. That would mean broad wealth stabilization for the vast number of middle-class families."