The toughest place to sell a home in the United States in November was the Northeast. Homebuyers sat on the sidelines in a region that had seen the biggest price gains before the housing market downturn.
An index of signed contracts for previously owned homes fell 13 percent in the Northeast, the most in the country, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. Prices in the region had jumped more than sixfold over 26 years, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or Ofheo.
The index's drop was triple that for other US regions, demonstrating that sellers are having to lower expectations as the real estate slump worsens.
Nationally, the number of people signing contracts to buy previously owned homes fell 2.6 percent in November from October, according to the Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index.
"The Northeast is getting hit hard," said Paul Rinkulis, of Keliher Real Estate in Boston. "It's at least as bad as it was in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and that was bad."
The report showed pending resales fell in three of four regions, including 4.1 percent in the Midwest and 2.1 percent in the West. Pending sales rose 2.3 percent in the South. The figures are seasonally adjusted.
Home prices in Massachusetts declined 2.3 percent in 2007's third quarter from the same period a year earlier, according to Ofheo. That was the fourth-largest decline, after those in Michigan, California, and Nevada.
Prices may fall 12 percent from their peak through 2010 due to "the toughest housing correction in our lifetimes,"
The realtors association estimates 5.7 million homes will be sold in 2008, little changed from 2007. Purchases of new homes will fall to 669,000, from 773,000. Fannie Mae estimates 4.9 million previously owned homes will sell this year, down 13 percent from 2007.
