In a market that sees steady growth in normal times, the Memphis area has seen a record drop in house sales here in 2007, with the largest drop coming in December.
In Memphis, home sales dropped 25 per cent in December of last year. This dropped the yearly home sale numbers down 15 per cent. In an area that does not traditionally see a drop in house sales, this event is being called "unprecedented" by the local realtor's association.
According to figures released by the Memphis Area Association of Realtors here, the area sold only 967 homes in December. This number is much lower, down 25.3 per cent from the previous year, December 2006 numbers. That year, December home sales were 1294.
In addition to the number of houses selling dropping, the area also saw a significant drop in the average sale price there. In December of 2006, Memphis recorded an average sale price of US$177,700. In December of 2007, this dropped almost 12 per cent to just US $157,000.
In home sale volume for the year, Memphis saw home sales for 2007 at US $2.87 billion which is down 16.1 per cent over the previous year.
This information comes from the Memphis Area Association of Realtors which is a group of real estate agents there. It is the largest organization in Tennessee with more than 5,000 members.
