Housing news still dominates a large portion of our nation’s economic mindset. On Wednesday, Reuters wrote that new home sales hit a record low, and prices tumbled.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday sales of newly built single-family homes dropped 11.2 percent to an annual rate of 309,000 units, the lowest level since records started in 1963, from 348,000 units in December.
Let’s be clear, this statistic is talking about new construction, not sales of existing homes. News isn’t that bleak here in Louisville.
According to The Courier-Journal, Louisville’s home sales gained in January.
Members of the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors sold 702 houses and condos in January, a 33 percent increase from a year earlier.
It marks the group’s seventh-straight month of double-digit percentage gains from a year earlier.
Color me confused because the very next paragraph states:
With only 529 sales, January 2009 was the slowest month in at least five years, said Lisa Stephenson, executive vice president of the Realtors group.
That seems to contradict the opening paragraphs. When in doubt, I look at the data itself.
Louisville KY Home Sales: January 2009
Number of Houses Sold This Month – 529
Average Selling Price This Month – $160,018Louisville KY Home Sales: January 2010
These statistics should represent residential sales of houses, condos and townhomes in the Greater Louisville MLS.
Number of Houses Sold This Month – 702
Average Selling Price This Month – $155,995
Just what we’d guess, more sales but at lower prices. Not sure where some of these folks get their data.
Louisville Real Estate Market Gets National Praise
The Louisville real estate market gets a compliment in the San Francisco newspaper with this snippet.
Other cities which Bay Area residents, weary of the local housing market bubble, might consider relocating to include: Columbus, Ohio, whose suburbs are job-rich and where 87% of middle-income families can afford a home; Louisville, Ky. where foreclosure rates are very low and there is a stable housing market; Houston, Texas where the energy sector has kept jobs going; and Indianapolis, Minneapolis and St. Louis which made the ranking in spite of middling home-price forecasts because housing in these locations is affordable.
Even better is Louisville ranking #2 in Forbes’ Top Ten Best Housing Markets Across America.
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Louisville, KY
- Houston, TX
- Minneapolis, MN
- Indianapolis, IA
- Memphis, TN
- Columbus, OH
- St. Louis, MO
- Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
- Austin, TX
I’d say we have a lot to be appreciative of here in Louisville. What do you think?
Update: The CJ now makes mention of Louisville and our #2 ranking in Forbes with Forbes.com: Louisville housing market second best in the nation.
