Home sales down for 4th month

Only 92 homes were sold, bringing a median price of $182,500.

That was down from 172 houses that sold for a median price of $166,500 a year earlier and 145 that sold for a median price of $150,000 in 2020.

The median price in November had been $200,000.

Devin Taylor, association president, said the drop in sales was no surprise.

“We’ve been trending in that direction for the last four months,” he said in an email, “and I don’t expect a huge change in January. We are seeing pre-pandemic numbers in homes sold and active listings. As of Dec. 31, 290 properties were available. This provides a much calmer and more strategic buying environment.”

December saw a total of $20.8 million homes sold.

That’s down from $33.6 million a year ago and $25.1 million in 2020.

The average home was on the market for 72 days last month.

That compares with 64 days a year ago and 74 days in 2020.

There were 290 active listings in December.

That’s up from 154 a year ago and 183 in 2020.

Although the median price of homes sold was down, the average price — $226,257 — was up 16% from a year ago.

That means more higher-end homes were sold last month.

“Units may be down, but value is up,” said Matt Schell, the association’s president-elect. “December showed another month of increased market value.

“The average sold price is up 16% on the year, continuing the trend we’ve seen these last few years.”

National sales figures for December aren’t in yet.

But the National Association of Realtors said home sales in November were down for the 10th consecutive month.

They were down 7.7% from October and 35.4% from a year earlier.

Lawrence Yun, the NAR chief economist, said, “The principal factor was the rapid increase in mortgage rates, which hurt housing affordability and reduced incentives for homeowners to list their homes. Plus, available housing inventory remains near historic lows.”