Closer look at July’s existing home sales numbers

After digesting the shock a 27% decline year over year in existing home sales numbers from the National Association of Realtors, I decided to take a closer look at the situation.  The one interesting take away is that there was positive sales growth in the over $1 million market.

The biggest gain was in the West at 7.8% from July 2009.  The ‘West’ does include Hawaii.  So, it appears that even though sales were significantly down from last year over all, the $1+ million market pushed the sales prices higher over all.  The strong Hawaii market with many properties over $1 million mark is a strong help to these numbers.

There were gains seen in every region in the $1+ million plus market indicating that they were many more affluent buyers out there taking advantage of lower prices to buy into the market.  With the strength seen in the Hawaii market I expect this trend to continue, not necessarily at the same strength, but definitely continuing.