HOME SALES JUMP 6.4% IN THE WEST, DROP 1% NATIONALLY

As my tracking continues to show, sales are up in Arizona as they are in the West. With a 6.4% jump in the West we are leading the country. Sales were flat in the South, down 6% in the Midwest and down 4.4% in the North East. Please enjoy the report below.

Existing-Home Sales Slip in April
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP
WASHINGTON (May 23) - Sales of existing homes fell for the eighth time in the past nine months, with the backlog of unsold single-family homes rising to the highest level in more than two decades.

Region-by-Region Data
In the West, sales were up 6.4 percent -- a region of the country where prices fell by the sharpest amount.
The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales dropped by 1 percent to 4.89 million units, matching the all-time low set in January. These records go back to 1999. The median price for an existing home dropped 8 percent, compared with a year ago, to $202,300. Analysts predicted further price declines given the huge backlog of unsold single-family homes, which rose in April to 10.7 months supply at the current sales pace, the highest inventory level since June 1985. The April sales drop was slightly smaller than had been expected. The housing industry is being battered by a prolonged slump that has seen sales and prices decline and mortgage foreclosures soar, the aftermath of a five-year housing boom. Read the rest of the article here: http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/existing-home-sales-slip-in-april/20080523100809990001