Some Facts and Numbers about the Recent Housing Industry

The rush to meet the April 30 deadline for the first time homebuyer’s tax credit has created a surge in the housing industry the last few months. In a time when home sales and mortgage loan applications were slumping, the last couple months has shown that people are still buying homes across the country. Here are some recent facts and figures from the last couple months to show a sort of mini-resurgence in the housing industry.

• The yearly rate for new home sales went up by nearly 27 percent from February 2010 to March 2010. That marks the second month of increase according to HUD and the Commerce Department Census Bureau.

• According to monthly reports, about 411,000 new single-family homes were sold in March of this year. There were about 324,000 new homes sold the previous month.

• In March, the median sales price for new homes in the United States was about $214,000. The average sales price for homes was about $258,600.

• The South experienced that largest increase in home sales in March with about 213,000 sales. That was nearly a 19 percent increase over last year’s figures for the same month in which only about 195,000 homes were sold.

• In the Northeast, there was a 35.7 percent increase of sales over the last couple months. However, when comparing time periods, there was a 100 percent increase in home sales. There were about 38,000 homes sold in the Northeast in March 2010 which is double the 19,000 homes that were sold in the region in March 2009.

• For the West, home sales increased by about 5.7 percent from February 2010. With 93,000 home sales in March 2010, there was an increase of 25.7 percent from the 74,000 home sales in March 2009.

• The Midwest region also saw an increase in home sales for the last couple months. In March 2009, there were only about 44,000 homes sold in that region. Compare that to the 49,000 home sales in the Midwest in March 2010, which is an 11.4 percent increase.

• The first time homeowner’s tax credit offered buyers up to an $8,000 credit for entering into a contract to purchase a home before April 30. Other home buyers could receive up to $6,500 for buying a home before the deadline as well.

• As a result of the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program, about 170,000 troubled homeowners received mortgage modifications as of March 2010 to help them make their payments each month. About 15.5 percent of them received long-term adjustments in March, which was an 11.5 percent increase over February. About another 91,800 modifications have been approved.