New home sales in the Shreveport, LA market fell year-over-year in November, but the percentage decline, which was less steep than in October 2011, seemed to be hinting at market improvement. New home sales saw a decline of 27.8% from the year earlier to 39 after sales dropped 36.9% in October from the year earlier.

A total of 713 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, down from 728 for the year that ended in October.

New home sales accounted for 8.1% of overall housing sales. This is less than the a year earlier when new home sales made up 9.9% of total sales. After rising year-over-year in October, sales of new and existing homes sank year-over-year in November.

The average price of newly sold homes increased year-over-year 33.9% in November to $256,689 per unit. This boost is an improvement over the 24.2% gain in October year-over-year.

Average mortgage size on new homes grew year-over-year along with new home prices. In November 2011, the average mortgage size was $286,642, up 86.6% from a year earlier. In October 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 17.7% bump year-over-year from a year earlier.

There was no change in the composition of the new-home market with regard to the types of properties sold in November 2011. Single-family home sales have represented all of new home sales while attached unit sales have accounted for no part of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size rose 56.3% year-over-year to 2,625 square feet in November 2011. An increase in both the average size and price of newly sold homes was also seen in October 2011 when the average size increased 6.7% to 2,230 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales stayed a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales made up 29.1% of existing home sales. They represented 24.2% in November 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures rose to 18.2% in November from 8.4% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales fell to 10.8% from 15.9% a year earlier.

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