New home sales in the New Orleans, LA market declined year-over-year in October, swinging downward off a year-over-year rise in September 2011. New home sales declined by 26.7% in October 2011 from a year earlier, after sales saw a 4.3% rise in September from the year earlier.

A total of 536 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in October, down from 548 for the year that ended in September.

Out of all housing sales, new home sales made up 3.0%, less than the 4.9% of sales a year earlier. Following a year-over-year increase in September, sales of new and existing homes also increased year-over-year in October.

For newly sold homes, the average price increased 5.9% year-over-year in October to $213,883 per unit. This is an upward shift from an 8.7% 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. It slipped 2.5% in October from a year earlier to $177,679. Average mortgage size grew 12.4% in September 2011 from a year earlier. For new home sales, the percentage of the sale price that was being financed dipped 7.2 percentage points year-over-year to 83.1% in October 2011. In September 2011, there was a 15.3 percentage point hike from a year earlier.

As a share of new home sales, single-family home sales have climbed from last year while the share belonging to attached units has fallen. Single-family home sales climbed from 93.3% of new sales in October 2010 to 97.0% of sales in October 2011. Conversely, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units slid to 3.0% of sales from 6.7% of sales.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales remained level in October from a year earlier, but remained a drag on the market. Foreclosures and REO sales, taken together, accounted for 32.9% of existing sales, about the same as a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures rose to 14.5% in October from 13.5% a year earlier and REO sales moved from 19.1% of existing home sales in October 2010 to 18.4% in October 2011.

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