There was a rise in sales of new homes in the Bradenton, FL market in October year-over-year, on an upswing after a drop in September 2011. Sales rose 63.5% from a year earlier to 157. This followed a 54.4% drop year-over-year in September.

A total of 1,245 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in October, up from 1,184 for the year that ended in September.

New home sales accounted for 11.2% of overall housing sales. This is up from the 7.3% of sales a year earlier. Following a fall in September year-over-year, sales of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in October.

The average price of newly sold homes dipped 2.6% year-over-year in October to $207,152 per unit. This decline a drop off from the 3.0% decline in September from a year earlier.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size saw a decline year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. In October 2011, average mortgage size dropped 14.6% from a year earlier to $141,931. In September 2011, average mortgage size fell 9.2% from a year earlier. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed declined 9.6 percentage points year-over-year to 68.5% in October 2011.

The share of new home sales made up by attached units has risen while the share belonging to single-family homes has fallen. The share of new home sales belonging to attached units grew from 22.9% of sales in October 2010 to 25.5% of sales in October 2011. Meanwhile, single-family home sales as a percentage of all new home sales declined to 74.5% of sales from 77.1% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size sank 26.7% year-over-year to 1,309 square feet in October 2011.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales declined in October from a year earlier, but remained a drag on the market. Foreclosures and REO sales, taken together, represented 36.0% of existing sales, lower than 54.7% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures dipped to 21.6% in October from 27.7% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales dropped to 14.4% from 27.0% a year earlier.

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