Median Home Price Declines 14% in First Quarter

Washington, DC, May 13, 2009--The median price for a single-family house fell 14% to $169,000 in the first quarter from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said.

NAR said first-time home buyers accounted for half of all purchases in the quarter, and many of them zeroed in on foreclosed homes. That dragged down the median, which is the mid price point.

The median price for the latest quarter is down 26% from a peak of $227,600 in the third quarter of 2005. The latest median price was down from a year earlier in 134 of the 152 metro areas included in the survey.

The biggest increase was in the Cumberland area of Maryland and West Virginia, where the median price climbed 21% to $114,900.

The lowest median price among the metro areas was $30,300 in Saginaw, Mich., and the highest was $570,000 in Honolulu.

Sales of single-family homes and condominiums declined 6.8% from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.6 million units. But sales were up sharply in some areas hardest hit by the housing bust, largely because bargain hunters were out in