NAR: Home Prices Increase in Portions of U.S.

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Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.96 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007, down 8.5 percent from 5.42 million in the third quarter, and are 20.9 percent below a 6.26 million-unit pace in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Regionally, the median existing single-family home price in the Midwest declined 3.2 percent to $156,300 in the fourth quarter from the same period in 2006. The strongest metro price increase in the Midwest was in the Springfield, Ill., area, where the median price of $108,600 was 14.4 percent higher than a year ago. Next was Bismarck, N.D., at $144,700, up 13.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa, at $115,400, up 12.1 percent.

In the Northeast, the median existing single-family home price fell 4.8 percent to $261,700 in the fourth quarter from the same period 2006. After Binghamton, the strongest price increase in the Northeast was in Atlantic City, N.J., at $278,800, up 10.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, followed by the Syracuse, N.Y., area, with a median price of $126,300, up 9.4 percent.

The median existing single-family home price in the South was $171,700 in the fourth quarter, down 5.4 percent from a year earlier. After Cumberland, the strongest price increase in the South was in Amarillo, Texas, at $120,200, up 11 percent from a year ago, followed by the Oklahoma City area with an 8.2 percent gain to $133,800, and the San Antonio area, at $151,700, up 7.9 percent.

In the West, the median existing single-family home price was $324,100 in the fourth quarter, which is 8.7 percent below a year ago. After Yakima, the strongest metro price increase in the West was in the Kennewick-Richland-Pasco area of Washington, at $172,400, up 14 percent from a year ago, followed by the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area, up 11.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006.

Roughly half of metropolitan areas continued to show rising home prices in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the latest quarterly survey by the NAR.

In the fourth quarter, 73 out of 150 metropolitan statistical areas show increases in median existing single-family home prices from a year earlier, including 11 areas with double-digit annual gains and another 12 metros showing increases of six percent or more; 77 had price declines including 16 with double-digit drops.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said disruptions in the mortgage market have played a role.

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Other affordable markets include the Saginaw-Saginaw Township North area of Michigan, with a fourth-quarter median price of $74,900, and Decatur, Ill., at $75,000.