In November, there was a fall year-over-year in new home sales in the Springfield, IL market, but the decline was less than the year-over-year decline in October. New home sales moved from 13 a year earlier to eight after the figure moved from 13 in October 2010 to six in October 2011.

A total of 126 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, down from 131 for the year that ended in October.

Out of 201 total sales, eight were of new homes, which makes up a smaller percentage than the 13 out of 220 total sales last year. Sales of new and existing homes dipped year-over-year in November after also falling in October year-over-year.

The average price of new homes rose to $192,313 from last year's $156,455. This followed a 52.8% lift in October year-over-year.

From the year-ago figure of $95,533, the average mortgage size on new homes moved up to $133,820. Average mortgage size on new homes went from $125,719 in October 2010 to $224,000 in October 2011. Of the overall sale price, the percentage that was being financed increased 8.5 percentage points year-over-year to 69.6% in November 2011.

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 homes continued to account for all of new home sales.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales did not appear to be dragging the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales made up 14.0% of existing home sales. They accounted for 20.8% in November 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures declined to 6.7% in November from 9.2% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales fell to 7.3% from 11.6% a year earlier.

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