Friday, November 13, 2009
Home sales flat; foreclosures soar
Agents reported selling a few more houses than October 2008, but foreclosures in the month rose from 23 to 140.
The latest from The Ticker blog
Roanoke area home sales were nearly flat last month, while foreclosure filings soared throughout the region.
The number of Roanoke Valley houses that sold in October peaked at 331, a slight increase from 328 in October 2008, the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors reported.
The average price of a home in October was $179,335, up from $177,957 last year, said the association, which tracks home sales in Roanoke, Salem and Vinton, the counties of Roanoke, Botetourt and Craig, and portions of Franklin and Bedford counties.
During the month, 366 homes were placed under contract and total housing inventory was 3,815.
Real estate sales generally are slow in November and December during much of the holiday season. But Jeff Reynolds, sales manager at Long & Foster's Southwest Roanoke County office, said Thursday he expects November and December sales to rise from last year's totals, largely because the last part of 2008 was extremely slow. In 2008, home sales dropped substantially in the midst of the nation's financial crisis in the fall.
Also, Reynolds and real estate agents nationwide expect an extended federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers and current homeowners to boost sales through next year.
Earlier this month, Congress extended the deadline for an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Now they can purchase a home by April 30, 2010, and still be eligible for the credit. Dec. 1 was the previous deadline.
Additionally, current homeowners can buy a new or existing home through April 30 and be eligible for a tax credit of up to $6,500.
These credits make "the next six months very exciting," Reynolds said. "I'm thinking that the market will take off very well."
Still, foreclosure filings in the region soared well above last October's levels, a signal of continued economic distress for some homeowners.
In the Roanoke metropolitan statistical area, there were 140 foreclosure filings last month, up 509 percent from 23 in October 2008. That's according to RealtyTrac, a California-based company that tracks foreclosures.
RealtyTrac reported a similar rise in foreclosure filings in the New River Valley in October. There were 27 filings last month, up from only one in October 2008 for the Blacksburg-Radford-Christiansburg MSA.
RealtyTrac reports the beginning of the foreclosure process by tracking auctions and bank repossessions.
