Thursday, August 10, 2006

HOMES SALES EXPECTED TO REMAIN STEADY FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2006

The housing market will continue to stabilize through the end of 2006, with U.S. home sales anticipated to reach the third highest levels on record, according to NAR's recent forecast. For the year, existing-home sales in the U.S. are expected to fall 6.5 percent to 6.61 million units, while new-home sales should reach 1.12 million units, down 12.8 percent from 2005.

NAR also projects the national median existing-home price to increase 4.3 percent to $229,000 in 2006.

"We've seen a minor easing in closed transactions of existing-home sales, and a slight increase in the leading indicator of pending sales based on contracts," said NAR Chief Economist David Lereah. "New-home sales and housing starts have been fluctuating, so the overall market is stabilizing."

**Taken from the California Association of Realtors Bulletin, dated August 9th, 2006.
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