Home sales are improving only in a handful of states (and they’re falling everywhere else).
The National Association of Realtors reported May 28 that home purchases rose 0.3% in April (the second increase in three months). Is this the latest sign that the housing market might be in recovering? Well, it depends on where you live. First-time buyers and investors are jumping in to take advantage of low prices in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and northern Virginia. But the pace of sales -- almost everywhere else -- is slowing.
The Realtors don't break out monthly data by state, but all the action in the first quarter seemed to be happening in California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona, which showed a combined 68.4% increase in sales compared to the first quarter 2008. U.S. sales for the nation dropped 6.8% during that period, but if you subtract those four states, the decline would have been more like 19.1%.
Some of the sales declines in the first quarter are startling. Hawaii home purchases fell off 40%. North Carolina was down 37%. And Washington prices fell 35%.
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