As the housing market reacts to the recessionary pressures on the economy and the increasing surplus of foreclosures, sellers are lowering prices and houses are getting sold.

What  a surprise.

Now as a homeowner myself I always want to get top dollar for my home when it sells. We all feel that way. But the sentiment has finally crept into the marketplace that homes are selling mainly on price and that if it is overpriced it has no chance of selling.

Now the real estate agents are saying we have been telling you that for a year, but as anyone who has had a child knows, it takes a long time for a lesson to sink in.

December it looks like the lesson has sunk in.

This is a good thing as now the housing market will find it’s proper pricing and a trustworthy price for housing can be established. This will bring the 1^st time homebuyers back into the game who have been saving for the past couple of years.

Sales of existing homes rose 6.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.74 million in December, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.45 million in November, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Without adjusting for seasonal factors, sales nationwide were up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, reflecting a surge of more than 36 percent in the Western states.

The nationwide median sales price plunged to $175,400, down 15.3 percent from $207,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since May 2003 and the biggest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968. With sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties making up about 45 percent of sales, many economists expect prices to keep falling. via MSNBC

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