Delaware housing: Home prices slide in all three counties; sales in NCCo, Kent down from year ago

The average price of homes sold in Delaware continued to slide in March as the beginning of prime selling season got under way.

Total sales were off in two counties -- New Castle fell from 368 homes in March 2010 to 328 last month, a 10.8 percent drop-off; and Kent went from 101 homes to 68 last month, a 32.6 percent fall.

In Sussex County, however, 159 homes were sold, topping last March's total of 128.

In New Castle County, the average sales price for new and existing homes fell from $229,000 last March to $216,000, a 5.6 percent drop. Kent sales prices fell from $186,000 to $178,000, off 3.9 percent; and Sussex dropped from $323,000 to $296,000, off 8.4 percent.

Recent housing figures have shown the market also is struggling nationally. Sales of existing homes decreased 9.6 percent in February. Distressed properties accounted for 39 percent of all sales, and 33 percent were cash transactions, the National Association of Realtors said.

About 1.8 million homes that are delinquent or in foreclosure loom as additional supply, according to CoreLogic. The so-called shadow inventory amounted to a nine-month supply of properties as of January, about the same as a year earlier, the real-estate data service said in a report.

There was an 8.6-month supply of homes for sale on the open market in February, the Realtors association reported.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201104160345/BUSINESS/104160310