The median price dropped to $170,300 nationwide, the lowest price level in 6 years. The median home price in January declined by about 26 percent from its highest level of $230,000 in July 2006.
According to the realtor association's chief economist Lawrence Yun, cheap houses for sale made up almost 50 percent of home sales in January. These sales are usually foreclosure sales or distressed sales.
Another housing price tracking firm in the country posted that the prices of single-family homes had fallen by 18.5 percent in December 2008 compared to December 2007 prices. It has been the fastest decline on the firm's record and the firm expects further declines as home buyers wait for the lowest price that they can obtain.
However, according to housing market research firm DataQuick, sales closings for cheap houses for sale increased in January in parts of Southern California and the Bay Area. Home prices in the metropolitan areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles declined by about 40 percent compared to their highest levels.
Nationwide, the number of unsold houses including cheap houses for sale dropped to 3.6 million units from more than 4.5 million units in the summer of 2008. Homebuyers took advantage of attractive mortgage rates and the surplus of cheap houses for sale that arose from the continued foreclosure of delinquent mortgage borrowers.
Using the current sales rate, it would take about 10 months to wipe out the millions of excess units. As sales closings for cheap houses for sale increased in parts of the West, home sales in the Midwest and the South dropped by 5.7 percent and dropped by 14.7 percent in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee and told lawmakers that the millions of unsold houses could pull down home prices to levels that would further destabilize the housing market. He said bleak conditions in the mortgage and housing sectors have been dragging the national economy through their impacts on construction and financial industries.
According to National Association of Real Estate Investors (NAREI) founder Marc Stephen Garrison, now is the right time to buy into the real estate industry, with cheap houses for sale flooding the market.
Garrison pointed out that the current real estate market is at its absorption stage where investors should be encouraged to buy, especially cheap houses for sale to reduce foreclosed homes.
He claimed that the market's absorption stage is where jobs and positive cash flow are. He added that every investor can venture into the absorption markets which are all over the United States.
Experts believed that the real estate market is ready for investments, noting the burgeoning number of cheap houses for sale.
Garrison cited Nathan Hanks and Mike Anderson of RealSource who he claimed do due diligence, discover markets and opportunities. Companies like RealSource offer free consultations that investors can take advantage of when buying into the real estate market which has amassed a great number of cheap houses for sale due to unabated foreclosures.
To invest in the real estate and foreclosure market, Garrison has advised investors to understand the four-cycle stage of the market that they want to put their money into.
He believed that having a mentor is important when investing in the real estate and foreclosure market. He also explained that investors should use the tools and materials that teach them how to profitably invest in the real estate and foreclosure market.
He noted the importance of migration pattern when investing on the market, adding that one new job that moves into a city has an ancillary effect.
However, he pointed out that investors could not make the real estate and foreclosure market change. He cautioned against investing in their own properties. He said that investors? goal when buying into the real estate and foreclosure market is to generate profit, buy short sales and foreclosures.
He also believed that the Obama Administration is making a change that will be positive for investors in the real estate and foreclosure market.
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