The housing slump worsened in the Capital Region in June, with sales dropping 25 percent and home values stalling.
The number of closed single-family homes fell to 771 from 1,024 in June 2007, and the median sale price was flat over the past year at $195,000, according to statistics released this morning by the Greater Capital Association of Realtors.
June’s year-over sales pace is the slowest the region has seen since March’s 26 percent decline. Realtors blamed uncertainty over the nation’s economy for dragging down sales.
“It’s a general feeling of malaise of what’s going to happen, said GCAR President Marie Bettini.
Sales regionwide for the first half of the year totaled 3,777, the lowest since 2003 and down 17 percent from the same six-month period last year. The region’s median sale price for the first six months was $190,000, unchanged from a year earlier.
Schenectady County bore the brunt of June’s slowdown, posting a 30 percent monthly sales decline to 117. A 6 percent pricing correction also slammed the county, sending its median sale price to $158,800. Rensselaer County also took a beating in June, posting both a 25 percent monthly sales drop and 7 percent decline in its median sales price.
Saratoga County continued to recover from a 15 percent pricing correction in April. The county’s median sale price rose 6 percent last month to $265,000, though sales plunged 23 percent to 189.
The national front for single-family home sales looked slighter better — or at least moving faster — than the region in June. U.S. single-family home sales totaled 4.27 million, down 15 percent from a year earlier. During the same period, the nation’s median sale price tumbled 6.7 percent to $213,800, the National Association of Realtors in Washington D.C. also announced Thursday.