House Prices Fall 7.6% Nationally

First Zillow, then Realty Trac and now National Realtors Association. The bad news is coming fast and furious the last fews days. Now we find through an article titled Home prices down 7.6% from CNN Money the latest house values trend.

Real estate prices continued to post steep year-over-year declines during the three months ended June 30, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Nationwide, the median existing single family home price plunged 7.6% to $206,500 in the second quarter, down from $223,500 in the same period of 2007. The median price represents the point at which half of all homes sold for more and half sold for less.

A record number of foreclosures helped drive down prices, according to NAR. In fact, foreclosures and short sales accounted for about one third of all existing homes sales.

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The Northeast median home sold for $269,000, down 9.6%, and prices in the Midwest were down 4.1% to $161,500.

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Condo prices fell much less than single family homes, down just 3% year-over-year to $220,000 from $226,900. A couple of cities actually recorded double-digit condo price gains, led by Syracuse, N.Y., up 17.8% to $144,900, and New Orleans, up 15.9% to $192,100. Houston condo prices rose 9.9% to $141,100.

Interesting that condo sales fell were only down 3%. Also interesting to note that there is a table on the bottom of the article with various cities and regions. NJ is listed 6 times on the list, all declines except the Trenton-Ewing area which had an increase of 1.6%.