Are home sales perking up?
However, February sales were down 35 percent compared to the same period last year.
The board report, released Monday, showed 744 transactions in February this year, compared to 627 the month before. Despite the significant month-to-month increase, the number of existing home sales was far below the 1,143 transactions posted in February 2007 or the February record of 1,203 set in 2006.
"February's double-digit rise in sales is welcome news and follows three consecutive months of month-to-month sales declines," Jillinda Bowers, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, said in a prepared statement.
"It's really encouraging because it's moving us into more of a healthier place, maybe even more than last year," said the board's first vice president, Ryan Kirkham.
Kirkham said the increase in sales may have been spurred by a slight decrease in pricing.
According to the Salt Lake board, the median sales price for homes and condominiums sold in February was $225,000, down 4 percent compared to $234,950 in January and down 1 percent compared to the median sales price of $227,301 in February last year.
Nationally, after six straight months of declines, sales of existing homes posted an unexpected 2.9 percent increase in February, according to the National Association of Realtors. The trade group said economists had been expecting a small decline in sales, but noted the unanticipated hike may have reflected more aggressive price cutting by sellers in some parts of the country.
The NAR reported Monday that the median existing sales price in February fell to $195,900, the largest year-over-year decrease on record since 1999.
Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the one-month rise in sales with many economists predicting the steep slump in housing will not bottom-out until later this year after prices fall further and allow huge levels of unsold inventories to be reduced.
"We're not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the (February) improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
He added that prices in some formerly hot markets in California and Florida were seeing significant price declines now as sellers try to attract buyers.
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