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Home sales helped end the year on an upswing by rising 5.7 percent in November, real estate company ""RE/MAX"":http://www.remax.com/ said in a report Monday.
[IMAGE]The company also found that sales ticked up by 1.1 percent year-over-year in December, the sixth straight month to post an increase. Homes for sale declined for the eighteenth consecutive month, with a 25.7-percent loss year-over-year.
Home prices aligned with figures for the same in November, down 0.35 percent month-over-month and year-over-year.
[COLUMN_BREAK]""We're pleasantly surprised to see the year end with such strong sales, and hope this trend will continue into the traditional spring selling season,"" ""Margaret Kelly"":http://www.remax.com/national-corp/biographies/margaret_kelly.aspx, CEO of RE/MAX, said in a statement.
""This December jump may be due to increased investor involvement and transactions that were scheduled to occur before the end of the year, but with prices at or very near the bottom and historically low interest rates, consumers are finding real value in this market,"" she added.
Of 53 metropolitan areas surveyed by RE/MAX, 20 saw their sales climb year-over-year, with Providence up 32.3 percent; Wilmington, 24.1 percent; Nashville, 20.5 percent; Miami, 19.1 percent; Albuquerque, 17 percent; and Chicago, 16.7 percent.
Median sales prices averaged $179,587 in December, on par with the median price from a month earlier.
While home prices fell for 15 consecutive months on a year-over-year basis, figures in 20 out of 53 metro areas underwent increases, with Miami up 16.7 percent; Orlando, 14 percent; Little Rock, 6.9 percent; and Phoenix, 6.4 percent.
RE/MAX said that average days on market for homes sold in December amounted to 98, a day more than the average seen in November and two more than the average year-over-year.
