Real Estate Market Favoring Lower Priced Home Sales Since 2006

Dennis Norman

A report just issued by Radarlogic shows that, since 2006, lower-priced homes have been selling better than higher-priced ones. Given the current economy this is not all that surprising but it is a dramatic change from what the norm was during the “housing boom”.

Highlights from the report include:

  • During the housing boom (2000 through 2005) sales of homes for less than $350,000 remained pretty constant on a year-over-year basis while homes in the $350,000 – $900,000 range increased by 32 percent per year on average.
  • In 2006 the number of home sales in all price ranges began to decline and growth in housing prices slowed and then came to a halt for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. (including St. Louis). This continued through 2007 and 2008 then stabilized in early 2009.
    • During this period the number of homes sold in the $350,000 – $900,000 range declined by an average of 25 percent per year, while home sales less than $350,000 declined by a slightly lower 22 percent per year.
    • In January 2006 homes selling for $350,000 – $900,000 accounted for 36 percent of all home sales and homes under $350,000 accounted for 60 percent of sales. By January 2009 this had changed to 29 percent and 68 percent respectively.
    • Since January 2009, the number of homes selling for less than $350,000 have increased 12 percent year-over-year on average while the number of homes selling in the $350,000 – $900,000 range have decreased 8 percent year-over-year.
    • Home sales of less than $350,000 has now grown to 73 percent of all home sales and homes sales of $350,000 – $900,000 has decreased to 23 percent.
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