Existing-home sales continue to climb

Existing-home sales across the nation rose in December for the fifth time in the last six months, offering a promise to some in the real estate industry of a long-awaited recovery in 2011.

Sales rose 12.3 percent from November, the National Association of Realtors reported today, but remained 2.9 percent below the same month a year ago.

The median price nationally fell 1 percent, to $168,800, reflecting the continued effects of a record volume of distressed homes, which comprised 36 percent of the U.S. market in December, compared with 32 percent in December 2009.

The end of that year was the expected expiration date of the tax credit, which accounted for a large spike in sales. As it turned out, the tax credit was extended and expanded that month. Since its April 30 expiration, sales of previously owned houses nationwide have plunged to levels not seen for almost 40 years.

Existing-home sales in December also rose from the previous month in the eight-county Philadelphia region - about 9.9 percent - but were 7.7 percent lower than the final month of 2009, according to Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert Report. The median price of a house in the region rose 3.2 percent, to $210,000 from $203,500.

The regional market has fewer distressed houses than the United States as a whole or other areas of the country, especially the Southwest, Florida, California or the Rust Belt Midwest states.

December "was a good finish to 2010, when sales fluctuate more than normal," said association chief economist Lawrence Yun. "The pattern over the last six months is clearly showing a recovery."

Main Line Realtor John Duffy, president of Duffy Real Estate, said the local market "seems to be rebounding to a certain extent, and that may have been fueled by a slight rise in mortgage interest rates," which have been rising since November after falling to a record low of 4.17 percent."

Today, Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed interest rates of 4.74 percent, up from 4.71 percent a week ago.

Still, "what will sell a house in a slow market is marketing and price," Duffy said. "It used to be location, location, location, but now it is location, condition and pricing, and pricing should be determined by the location and condition of the property."