Sales in December were down 3.5% from the previous December.The Realtors also reported that sales were up 6.5% month over month, and sales for all of 2008 were down 13.1% compared with 2007.
About 45% of the transactions in December were considered distress sales, either a short sale or a home in foreclosure, the Realtors said. Many foreclosure sales are handled outside the Realtors' system and are not reported by the Realtors.
"Rising foreclosures and the large inventory overhang continue to exert downward pressure on prices," wrote Anna Piretti, an economist for BNP Paribas. ...
The median sales price fell to $175,400 in December, down a record 15.3% compared with a year earlier. ...
The price decline is likely the largest since the Great Depression in the 1930s, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the trade group.
I believe that year-over-year numbers are better than month-over-month numbers at showing the sustained trend, because month-over-month numbers are too volatile. Also, the Realtors' data for price changes are not very reliable, because they don't control for the changing mix of houses sold. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices (which should get released today) are more reliable for measuring price changes.
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