NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Existing home sales jumped 6.8% in March, with home buyers racing to get a tax credit that expires in April, according to a real estate industry report released Thursday.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units, up from the revised rate of 5.01 million in February. Sales year-over-year were up 16.1%.
Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected the March sales rate to hit just 5.29 million annual units.
Home resales have been above year-ago levels for nine straight months, according to the report.
"Buoyed by the unseasonably warm weather, home owners were out en masse scooping-up bargain-priced real estate," said Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans, in a research note.
In its February report, NAR said winter storms hurt figures for the month.
"Adding to the increase in sales [for March] is the looming deadline of the government's home buyer tax credit," Walters said.
First-time home buyers can qualify for a tax credit of up to $8,000, while those who are trading up could get as much as $6,500. In either case, buyers must sign contracts by the end of April and close the deal before July 1 in order to get the credit.
Legislators have twice extended the deadline to obtain the tax credit, but a further extension is not expected.
The tax credit "has been a resounding success," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, said in a prepared statement. "This is preserving perhaps $1 trillion in largely middle class housing wealth that may have been wiped out."
Price and inventory:The median price of homes sold in March was $170,000, up 0.4% from March 2009. Distressed properties made up 35% of the houses sold during the month.
Total housing inventory rose 1.5% to 3.58 million existing homes for sale. That's an 8-month supply at the current selling pace, down from and 8.5 month supply in February.
Sales by property type: Single-family home sales rose 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million in March from a pace of 4.36 million in February, and were 13.3% above the pace 12 months ago.
Condominium and co-op sales rose 3.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 670,000 units in March, from 650,000 in February, and were 39.3% above March 2008's rate.
Sales by region: Total existing home sales rose the most in the Midwest, up 7.2% in March to an annual pace of 1.19 million. That's up 15.5% from a year ago.
Sales in the South rose 7.1% to an annual rate of 1.97 million; the West gained 6.6% to 1.3 million; and the Northeast was up 6% to 890,000.
Below is an interesting article about our local housing/real estate market from Yahoo Real Estate:
The housing market is showing some signs of recovery. Sales are up and prices have stabilized after falling for three years. The ten metro areas that enjoyed the greatest home-price increases over the past year (through June 30, 2009) largely missed the housing boom and didn't indulge in subprime-lending excesses.
With no boom, these cities had no need to bust. Instead, their housing markets have plugged along at 4% annual price appreciation, below the national average of 6% annually between 1968 and 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors. Most of these areas are relatively small, with populations less than 200,000.
The number-one spot for home-price appreciation over the past year was Elmira, N.Y., where the economy puttered along through 2008 and avoided the recession longer than the rest of the country.
Texas makes a strong showing, with six cities in the top ten, reflecting the state's population and job growth in recent years, much of it related to strong energy prices.
All of these cities had a rate of unemployment less than the national average of 9.5% in October '09, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment is one of the factors, along with affordability (the ratio of median home price to median household income), that Fiserv Lending Solutions factors into its home-price forecasts. Fiserv expects that home prices in these cities will flatten or grow only slightly through mid 2010, reflecting the shakiness of the larger, national economy.
One-year % change in home price: 4.5% Median home price: $85,000 Median family income: $52,700 Affordability index: 2 Population: 88,641 Unemployment rate: 8.7% Foreclosure rate: 0.3% of all housing units Forecast change in home price over the next year: 1.8%
This south central New York city near the Pennsylvania line is home to Anchor Glass, which produces products for the food and beverage industry. It's also near Corning, home to Corning, Inc., manufacturer of specialty glass and ceramics.
One-year % change in home price: 4.5% Median home price: $92,655 (estimated) Median family income: $51,700 Affordability index: 2 Population: 134,510 Unemployment rate: 7% Foreclosure rate: 0.02% of all housing units Forecast change in home price over the next year: 0.3%
This city on the Texas-Arkansas border is a transportation, commercial and industrial center. It's also home to Red River Army Depot.
