Median Home Sales Price Dropped

Sales of existing homes fell for a 6th straight month in September and the median sales price dropped by a record amount, in further evidence of a sharp slowdown in the once-booming housing market,

The median price of a single-family home fell to $219,800 last month, a drop of 2.5 % from the price in September 2005. That was the biggest year-over-year price decline in records going back nearly four decades. Home prices had also fallen in August and it marked the first back-to-back declines in 16 years.

Housing, which had set sales records for both new and existing homes for 5 consecutive years, has been rapidly cooling this year, but economists with the Realtors suggested that the decline could be hitting bottom.

Other economists suggested the weakness in housing could last for a number of more months and perhaps as long as another year because of a huge backlog of unsold homes.

Existing home sales will fall by 9 % this year and will drop by an even bigger 14 % in 2007.

The inventory of unsold homes, after climbing to all-time highs, fell for a second straight month, decreasing 2.4 %, to 3.75 million unsold homes at the end of September, which represents a 7.3 months supply at the September sales pace.