National Numbers Down, But What Are the San Francisco Stats Like?

Existing home sales dropped 27.2 percent nationally to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units in July from a downwardly revised 5.26 million in June, and are 25.5 percent below the 5.14 million-unit level in July 2009, according to a report issued today by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). The report attributed the drop largely to the expiration of the federal home buyer tax credit and concern about the strength of the economic recovery.

NAR chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said a soft sales pace likely will continue for a few additional months. "Consumers rationally jumped into the market before the deadline for the home buyer tax credit expired. Since May, after the deadline, contract signings have been notably lower and a pause period for home sales is likely to last through September," he said. "However, given the rock-bottom mortgage interest rates and historically high housing affordability conditions, the pace of a sales recovery could pick up quickly, provided the economy consistently adds jobs.

"Even with sales pausing for a few months, annual sales are expected to reach 5 million in 2010 because of healthy activity in the first half of the year. To place in perspective, annual sales averaged 4.9 million in the past 20 years, and 4.4 million over the past 30 years," Yun said.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the West fell 25.0 percent and are 23.0 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $224,800, up 3.3 percent from July 2009.

But in the West, sales in the price ranges typical of San Francisco properties was down by only 11.9 percent for properties selling for $550 to 750 thousand, down 6.8 percent for properties selling for $750 thousand and $1 million and up 7.8 percent for properties selling for properties above $1 million price.