news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The number of existing single-family homes sold in Greensboro continued to drop in the first quarter of 2008, marking another dip in the local housing market.

There were 737 homes sold from January through March, down from the 741 homes sold in the fourth quarter of last year, and 22.5 percent below the number sold in the first quarter of 2007, according to data from the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association.

The slowdown puts the pace of home selling back to the levels found in 2003 and 2004, before the record highs of 2005 and 2006.

"Although it may seem like a dramatic drop, we're actually getting back to normal levels. We are actually where we were about three years ago before our record level of homes sold in Greensboro," association President Ann Buffington, in a news release said.

The inventory of available homes on the market has increased. At the end of the first quarter, there were 2,486 homes in the city's real estate inventory. At the current pace of selling, it would take 12.3 months to exhaust that supply, according to the Realtors association.

The number of homes on the market has increased almost 12 percent from the fourth quarter and almost 10 percent from a year ago.

Home prices have also taken a hit, coming in 3.3 percent below the average from 2007. The price of the average home sold in the first quarter was $188,619, down from $190,161 in the fourth quarter.

Greensboro's most popular areas continue to be in the northwest part of the city, with 85 sales occurring in the 27410 zip code. It was followed by the 27405 zip code in the northeast area of the city, with 81 sales.

The biggest price tags came in the Summerfield area, which posted 32 sales at an average price of $386,128.

Contact Lanita Withers at 373-7071 or lanita.withers@news-record.com