Area home sales still limping along

Inventory at record high, median home price marginally above last year's

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

Local April home sales came in 28 percent below last year's levels, suggesting a definitive turn in the Nashville-area housing market is not close.

Figures compiled by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors show that a little more than 2,100 properties swapped hands last month, down from almost 3,000 in April 2007. Single-family sales came in at 1,713, also down 28 percent from last year. Condominium sales fell 20 percent to 281.

The median price of homes sold was $180,000, up about 1 percent from a year ago. The median price paid for a condo dropped slightly to $162,000.

Last month marked the fifth straight in which sales were down at least 27 percent from a year ago. Since August, the year-over-year decline also has averaged 27 percent.

As a result, inventory levels are now the highest on record: 24,670 properties at the end of last month, or about a year's worth of sales. At the end of 2007, inventory was below 20,700 properties.