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The median sales price for homes sold in September continued to move higher yearly and monthly while sales were stalled from the previous month, according to a housing report from ""RE/MAX"":http://www.remax.com/, which tracks MLS data in 52 metropolitan areas.
[IMAGE]The median sales price in September was $164,989, a slight 0.7 percent increase from August and a 7.8 percent improvement from September 2011. So far, prices have been rising yearly for eight straight months.
Out of the 52 metros surveyed, 44 saw yearly price gains. The metros with the most significant increases included Phoenix (33.3 percent), Miami (23.1 percent), Atlanta (23 percent), San Francisco (22.7 percent), and Detroit (20 percent).
September experienced a typical seasonal drop in home sales, with sales falling 17.5 percent from August. The report explained sales were also challenged by shrinking inventory. Despite the monthly decline, home sales still managed to stay 0.5 percent higher than last year's figure.
Metro areas where year-over-year sales were strong included Albuquerque (40.9 percent), Chicago (24.1 percent), Raleigh-Durham (22.1 percent), Providence (22.1 percent), and Nashville (21 percent).
Inventory declined on a monthly and yearly basis, falling 5.3 percent and 29.1 percent, respectively. The month-over-month drop is the 27th consecutive month inventory has declined.
While a decline in inventory is helping prices to rise, its impact is still negative for sales.
The average months supply of inventory in September stood at 5.5, about two months lower than last year's 7.7 months. Metro areas with very low months supply include San Francisco (1.3 months), Los Angeles ( 1.7 months), Orlando ( 2.6 months), Denver (2.6 months) and Washington, D.C. (2.8 months).
""Although we still face some serious obstacles in tight lending and shrinking inventory, we believe that the housing market will continue to recover into 2013,"" said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX.
RE/MAX also reported the average number of days on the market was 81 in September, unchanged from the previous month, but a decrease from 94 days last year.
