Home sales improving: But November sales down from October

By: Fran Daniel | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: December 31, 2009

Sales of existing homes in Forsyth County rose 30.3 percent last month, compared with November 2008.

Sales reached 413 last month, compared with 317 in November 2008, according to the Winston-Salem Regional Association of Realtors.

This is the second consecutive month that year-over-year sales of existing homes have increased, but sales dropped 13 percent last month from 475 sales in October 2009. The average sales price fell 16.8 percent to $158,617 last month from $190,758 in November 2008. Sales prices rose 3 percent last month from $153,996 in October.

"We continue to be encouraged by the number of existing-home sales in our market," Phil Rector, the president of the Winston-Salem Regional Association of Realtors, said yesterday.

Rector said that there were not as many houses sold in November as there were in October, but he believes that the government's renewal and expansion of tax credits for first-time homebuyers and greater confidence in the economy should continue to bolster sales of existing homes into 2010.

"We anticipate existing-home sales prices to remain steady as we work through the existing inventory of homes for sale," he said. "New-home construction should remain relatively inactive until the for-sale inventory is reduced in early 2010."

Don Jud, a professor emeritus in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNC Greensboro, said that the local market is following the national market, which he believes is finally bottoming out.

Jud said that the market may soften a little after the tax credit for first-time homebuyers ends April 1.

But, he said, "with the economy picking up, I think employment is going to pick up this next year. If that happens, over the next year I think we're going to see some improvement in the housing market."

fdaniel@wsjournal.com

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