Existing-home sales rose 31 percent at year’s end in 2009, with a total of 163,148 homes sold statewide compared to 124,168 homes sold at year end 2008, according to Florida Realtors. Existing-home sales activity at the end of 2009 also was 25.6 percent higher than the 2007 statewide sales level, records show. Seventeen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing-home sales, while 18 MSAs had higher condo sales through the period. A majority of the state’s MSAs have reported increased sales for 18 consecutive months. Florida’s median sales price for existing homes at year end 2009 was $142,600; a year earlier, it was $187,700, for a 24 percent decrease. The national median existing single-family home price was $171,900 in November, down 4.4 percent from a year before, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR housing industry analysts note that sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes.

Metro Tulsa, OK, housing starts finished the year strong, with 190 permits issued in December, according to information released by the Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa. The monthly total is a 14.5 percent increase from the November total, and a substantial 81 percent increase over December 2008. Boosted by the December activity, Tulsa’s annual housing starts increased to close the year at 2,445, trailing the 2008 total by just 9.5 percent, the narrowest margin since the beginning of the year. Housing starts at the beginning of the year trailed prior year totals by upwards of 50 percent. The gap has gradually closed month to month as residential construction saw signs of a rebound through the peak summer months. The year was marked by a variety of unprecedented changes, from incentives such as the first-time homebuyer tax credit (which has been extended through April) to new Oklahoma legislation requiring builders to carry workers’ compensation insurance in order to receive a building permit (effective in November).

According to the latest monthly data compiled by the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), December volume of single-family home sales across the greater Houston area dipped 2.1 percent compared to December 2008. That represents the first decline since last August. Total December property sales were flat on a year-over-year basis. At $152,500, the December single-family home median price—the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less—rose 5.2 percent from one year earlier, representing the eighth consecutive monthly increase in median price. The average price of a single-family home in Houston appreciated for a third straight month, reaching $219,214, up 15.1 percent versus December 2008. That figure represents the second highest for all of 2009 and the highest for a December in Houston.