New home sales dropped year-over-year in August in the Bradenton, FL market, but there were signals of market improvement with a percentage drop less harsh than in July 2011. Sales declined 35.8% from a year earlier to 97. This came on the heels of a 51.4% drop year-over-year in July.

In the 12 months ending August 2011, there were 1,253 new home sales, down from an annualized 1,307 in July.

New home sales as a percentage of overall housing sales fell to 6.6% from 9.2% of sales a year earlier. Following a year-over-year decline in July, sales of new and existing homes also declined year-over-year in August.

The average price of newly sold homes slid 11.8% year-over-year in August to $221,805 per unit. This is a downward shift from a 7.2% rise in July year-over-year.

The average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a decline year-over-year along with new home prices. It fell 6.2% in August from a year earlier to $166,158. In July 2011, average mortgage size rose 9.5% from a year earlier. The overall percentage of sale price that was being financed increased 4.5 percentage points year-over-year to 74.9% in August 2011.

Single-family homes accounted for a greater percentage of new home sales than last year. Single-family home sales rose from 62.9% of new sales in August 2010 to 67.0% of sales in August 2011. Conversely, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units sank to 33.0% of sales from 37.1% of sales.

The average unit size of newly sold homes slipped 6.0% year-over-year to 1,795 square feet in August 2011. A decline was also seen in July 2011 when average size of new homes sold dipped 3.2% to 1,619 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales decreased in August from a year earlier, but stayed a drag on the market. Foreclosures and REO sales, taken together, accounted for 33.9% of existing sales, lower than 56.7% of sales a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales belonging to foreclosures dropped to 18.6% of sales in August from 32.7% a year earlier while REO sales declined to 15.2% of existing sales from 24.0% of sales a year earlier.

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