New home sales rise - South Florida Business Journal:

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percent last month to a seasonally adjustes annual rateof 337,000 from a revised Januargy figure of 322,000, according to data released Wednesday by the . And whiled that may seem like good news, sales were stilp the second-worst recorded and 40 percent beloqwlast year’s levels. Patrick Newport, an economist with , notes that builderse are still finding it harderf then ever to sell newhomes “becauser existing home prices are dropping fast, and the numberd of existing homes for sale remains near a recor d high.” He noted that the median time it took to sell a new home increase d to 9.8 months – the highest readingy since July 1982. In sales rose 9.
7 percentf in the South from amonthn earlier, and 6.6 percent in the West. However, they fell 9.1 perceng in the Midwest and 3.3 percent in the The median sales price fellto $209,000, down 18 percenft from the same mont h last year. The median price is the where half sell for more and halffor less. At this the government said it will take a year to clear throug the supply of new homes on the Sales of existing homes also increased last montn by the largest amount in nearlhy six yearswith first-time buyers taking advantage of slashe d prices on foreclosures and other distressed properties. On Monday, the reportedd that sales of existing homesgrew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.
72 million last month, from 4.49 millionb units in January. In Florida existing home sales rose 20 percentwith 9,858i homes sold statewide, up from 8,181 homes sold duringf the same month last year, according to the latest housin data from the . Earlier this week, raised its 2009 estimate of mortgage originationsby $800 billion to a new total of $2.7 8 trillion. The that mortgage rates this week dippedto 4.63 from 4.89 percent in the prior week.