In the Allentown, PA market, new home sales sank year-over-year in August, and the market seemed to be worsening in light of the percentage drop steeper than July 2011. Sales fell 20.0% from a year earlier to 36, relative to a 10.6% fall in July from the year earlier.

In the 12 months ending August 2011, there were 515 new home sales, down from an annualized 524 in July.

New home sales made up 5.5% of overall housing sales. This is less than from a year earlier when new home sales represented 6.9% of total sales. After dropping in July from a year earlier, sales of new and existing homes rose year-over-year in August.

In August, the average price of newly sold homes dipped 6.1% year-over-year to $285,333 per unit. This is a swing down from a 3.0% rise in July year-over-year.

Average mortgage size on new homes dropped year-over-year along with new home prices. In August 2011, average mortgage size on new homes sold was $216,823, down 13.9% from a year earlier. In July 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 6.5% decline from a year earlier. For new home sales, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed declined 6.9 percentage points year-over-year to 76.0% in August 2011.

As a share of new home sales, single-family home sales have climbed from last while the share belonging to attached units has fallen. The share of new home sales belonging to single-family homes increased from 37.8% in August 2010 to 44.4% of sales in August 2011. Meanwhile, attached units as a percentage of all new home sales declined to 55.6% of sales from 62.2% of sales.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales continued to drop from a year earlier in August and did not look to be a burden on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales accounted for 22.7% of existing home sales, down from 33.7% of sales a year earlier. Foreclosures slipped to 11.7% of existing home sales in August from 18.6% a year earlier while REO sales fell to 10.9% of existing sales from 15.1% of sales a year earlier.

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