NAR: Prices drop in 80% of metros

The median single-family resale home price dropped in 80.4 percent of the 153 U.S. metro areas tracked in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year, and 36 metro areas experienced double-digit percentage declines in price, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

The national median price of single-family resale homes was $177,900 in the third quarter, down 11.2 percent compared to the median price in third-quarter 2008.

The year-over-year third-quarter price swings ranged from a 40 percent decline in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan statistical area to a 19.2 percent gain in the Cumberland, Md.-W.V., metro area. The Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa-Ill., metro area was the only other area to experience a double-digit percentage gain in the median price from third-quarter 2008 to third-quarter 2009.

Regionally, the median resale price of single-family homes sank 16.4 percent in the West, 9.4 percent in the Northeast, 7.9 percent in the South and 5.5 percent in the Midwest in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

Prices were down 34.5 percent in the Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., metro area; down 26 percent in the Orlando, Fla., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., metro areas; down 24.6 percent in Miami-Fort-Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla., and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla.; down 24.1 percent in Reno-Sparks, Nev.; down 24 percent in Ocala, Fla.; down 22.9 percent in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.; and down 22 percent in Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Fla.

Nine of the top 15 areas with double-digit percentage declines in median price from third-quarter 2008 to third-quarter 2009 are in Florida. ...CONTINUED

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