Existing House Sales Prices for Q3 2009

The National Association of Realtors has released their list of Median Sales Prices of Existing Single Family Homes for Metropolitan Areas. (Couldn't they have come up with a better title?) Here is a link to the list (warning: it's a PDF file). Prices in some areas are still declining, while other areas are beginning to see a rebound. This list could be used two ways - if you are a bottom feeder and looking to buy in places that might be bottoming out, look for the cities that had the largest decline - Cape Coral, FL (-40%), Las Vegas, NV (-34.5%), or my area, Phoenix (-22.9%). Of course, the danger in this is that prices may not have bottomed out and may keep dropping.

Or, if you want to invest in places that may have already bottomed out and might now be on the rebound, look in areas that had the biggest increase - Cumberland, MD (+19.2%), Davenport, IA (+14.3%), or Oklahoma City, OK (+9.1%).

The NAR tried to put a positive spin on this report, saying "To be sure the numbers are mixed and some areas are experiencing reversals, but over all we are beginning to pull ourselves up out of this slump..." That seems like wishful thinking on their part as the vast majority of areas on this list have experienced pricing declines; only 28 of the 155 areas listed have positive changes.