(Source: Tri-City Herald)
By Marketwatch And, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
April 21--WASHINGTON -- Resales of U.S. single-family homes and condos rose 3.7 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.
Resales had dropped a revised 8.9 percent in February to 4.92 million units, compared with the initial estimate of a 9.6 percent plunge to 4.88 million.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected sales to rise to 5 million.
"This was a fairly positive report in that it retraced some of the weakness in the February numbers," said Michael Gapen, economist at Barclays Capital.
Resales in the Tri-Cities and West Richland were fewer in the first quarter of 2011 -- 238 units compared to 652 units sold in 2010.
"That's because many buyers bought early in the first quarter of 2010 to take advantage of the tax credit for first time home buyers," said Paul Roy, president of the Tri-City Association of Realtors, and associate broker at Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Associated Brokers in Kennewick.
In the Tri-Cities, 2011 residential sales of new and resale units from January through March were up, according to the latest Tri-Cities Market Assessment Report from the Tri-City Association of Realtors.
The report showed residential sales in Richland were up 22 percent; 36 percent in Kennewick; 30 percent in Pasco; 9 percent in West Richland and 7 percent in Benton City, Burbank, Connell, Finley and Prosser combined.
Nationally, since March 2010, the median cost of a home sold has declined by 5.9 percent, to $159,600.
In the Tri-Cities the median cost of a home in 2011 is up, between $196,000-$198,000, compared to $188,000-$196,000 in 2010, according to the Tri-Cities Market Assessment Report.
"The Tri-Cities is a vibrant, growing community, with a strong economy and a low unemployment rate compared to national figures," Roy said. "Construction, manufacturing and new business openings were all up going into the first quarter of 2011."
"All of which translates into a nice stable economy with a strong housing market," Roy said.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors' data showed distressed sales just keep rising, accounting for 40 percent of the total in March.
Nationally, resales increased across three of four regions this past month, up by 3.9 percent in the Northeast, by 1 percent in the Midwest and by 8.2 percent in the South. They fell 0.8 percent in the West.
March sales of single-family homes grew 4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.45 million. Sales of condos rose 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 650,000.
Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, cast the report in upbeat terms.
"Existing home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we're clearly on a recovery path," he said.
But Josh Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., said that sales essentially have returned to the weak rate that prevailed before the government tried to help the market with a tax credit targeted for home buyers last year.
If sales remain at this pace for the rest of the year, 2011 will be a better year for home sales than last year, Yun said.
The supply of existing homes ticked down to 8.4 months from 8.5 months in February.
One potential wild card is an upcoming revision to the Realtor group's data, which could show the housing market was even weaker than believed.
Some economists said the trade group's data significantly overstate the sale of used homes -- by as much as 20 percent.
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