Most of the major news outlets are busy selling the negative part of the most recent National Association Of Realtors figures that report December Sales fell by 17 percent. Every radio report has cried out the same message, "SALES DOWN 17%". If you dig further into the numbers, you will find that sales dropped 17% in December compared to November, but are actually up 15% compared to December 2008.
In fact, for all of 2009 there were 5,156,000 existing-home sales, which was 4.9 percent higher than the 4,913,000 transactions recorded in 2008; it was the first annual sales gain since 2005. And, the median sales price was $178,300, up 1.5 percent from a year earlier. It was the first yearly gain since August 2007. In addition, total housing inventory at the end of December FELL 6.6 percent to 3.29 million existing homes available for sale.
I'm not suggesting that we ignore the negative news, but when the bulk of the news on home sales was positive, why make the whole story about a month to month decrease? 2010 home sales will face challenges with foreclosures, unemployment, and the general economy. The fact that we've experienced a month to month decline means far less to me than the reduction in inventory and the increase of the median price. Too bad the media doesn't agree.
Steve Eckhardt, Broker, Luxury Real Estate Professional
Contact me at (813) 765-1182
Check Out Steve Eckhardt's Other Social Networking Profiles
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CornerstoneProperties
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/theflbroker
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/27264581@N08/
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/cornerstoneproperties
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/csmtggrp85
We all know the old saying "Lies, damned lies, and statistics"
I've said it before. The media seems to thrive on negative news. If only they'd start telling the truth.