December 21 2010 (Chris Moore)

In what could be a prelude of the national monthly existing home sales report to be released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Wednesday, December 22nd, a report released on December 17th by realty giant RE/MAX revealed that home prices declined for the fifth consecutive month.

RE/MAX reported in its news release that existing home sales fell 4.9 percent in November compared to October and nearly 25.9 percent from a year ago in the 54 metropolitan areas that it tracks.

“Despite predictions about falling home prices, they appear to be remaining stable with several markets reporting significant price increases over last year,” said RE/MAX chief executive Margaret Kelly.

Metropolitan areas with the biggest month to month sales gains include: Jackson, MS up 9.2 percent, Billings, MT up 9.2 percent, Las Vegas, NV up 4.7 percent, Birmingham, AL up 3.8 percent, and Miami up 3.6 percent. None of the 54 metro areas showed a sales increase from November 2009.

The only somewhat good news RE/MAX found was that home prices have fallen only 1.7% since November 2009.

The top five markets with price increases were: Burlington, VT up17.2 percent, Trenton, NJ up15.9 percent, Raleigh, NC up13.3 percent, Washington, DC up 9.4 percent and Boston, MA up 8.8 percent.

The report also revealed that based upon current inventory and sales rate; there is currently a 10 month supply of homes on the market, one month more than November of last year.

Analysts at HIS Global Research are looking for NAR to report a 7.2 percent increase in nationwide sales from October to November. J.P. Morgan Research analysts expect a 5.2 percent increase in sales.

It should be interesting to see what NAR has to say.

Tags: nar, re/max, existing home sales, home prices decline, home prices, supply of homes, falling home prices