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MIAMI — Home resales in the South skyrocketed last month
as first-time buyers hurried to grab an expiring federal tax credit
while exploiting low prices and mortgage rates.

The South
recorded 176,000 home sales in November, the National Association of
Realtors said Tuesday, up 48 percent from a year earlier when the
nation was dizzied by the financial market meltdown. The median sales
price fell slightly more than 1 percent, to $151,400.

Nationally,
existing home sales soared nearly 47 percent compared with last
November, without adjusting for seasonal factors. The median sales
price dropped 4 percent to $172,600.

Half of the national sales
went to first-time homebuyers using a tax credit of up to $8,000 that
was set to expire last month. Congress extended the credit until next
spring and also added a tax credit of up to $6,500 for repeat
homebuyers.

The first-time homebuyer tax credit, along with
mortgage rates below 5 percent, lured more buyers than during previous
holiday seasons, real estate agents said.

“Remember that a year
ago the months of October, November and December were pretty much the
worst quarter in the history of real estate — and not just for San
Antonio,” said Bob Leonard, a broker with Re/Max San Antonio.

“At least in the case of housing, the consumer confidence level is coming back,” Leonard said.

All
19 Southern cities covered by the Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly
Housing Report showed sales increases compared with last November.
Median sales prices were flat or increased in 11 Southern cities.

The
AP-Re/Max report, also released Tuesday, analyzed sales transactions in
the metropolitan statistical areas recorded by all real estate agents,
regardless of company affiliation.

Here are some highlights:

–
Orlando, Fla.: This tourist mecca experienced two extreme swings in
November. Sales doubled from last November, the biggest gain among
Southern cities in the AP-Re/Max report. (Jackson, Miss., had the
smallest sales gain at 15 percent.)

Meanwhile, the Orlando median
sales price dropped by a quarter to $123,250, the steepest price
decline among Southern metro areas in the AP-Re/Max report.

Homes
priced $200,000 and below sold quickest in November, fueled by
first-time buyers and investors, said Les Simmonds, president of L.G.
Simmonds Real Estate Corp. in Orlando.

“If you have something in the low price range, your telephone will ring,” Simmonds said.

Still,
prices could keep sinking because of consistently heavy foreclosure
inventories, which have driven down property values in Orlando as well
as in Miami and Tampa.

“That’s the kicker: It’s almost like you
feel you are getting somewhere, then there’s always something to hold
you back,” Simmonds said.

– Miami: This sunny metropolis saw the
median sales price decline 23 percent to $152,000, but affordable
prices for houses and condos helped spur a 59 percent sales increase
from last November, the AP-Re/Max report showed.

Foreign
investors and buyers looking for bargain foreclosures boosted sales for
Ralph De Martino, owner of Ocean International Realty in Miami Beach.
De Martino has presided over six deals since the start of November.

“Business has been pretty good — very good, actually,” De Martino said.

–
Houston: With its steady oil- and health-care-based economy and solid
employment base, Houston proved to be a strong market in November.

Sales
of existing homes jumped 34 percent, while prices rose nearly 9 percent
to $150,000 — the largest price increase among Southern cities in the
AP-Re/Max report.

One hot area is central Houston, known as
“inside the loop” because it’s encircled by expressways. There, nicer
homes rarely sell for under $300,000, and the few properties listed
below that price last just a few days on the market, said Tim Surratt,
an agent with Greenwood King Properties in Houston.

“We’re
extraordinarily busy days before Christmas,” Surratt said. “The window
to purchase, where the prices are right and the interest rate is right,
is closing.”

Michael Bradford has already jumped through that
window. Bradford looked at about 20 houses after relocating from San
Francisco to work for a Houston-based energy company.

He bought a
three-bedroom, 2,300-square foot home for $405,000. He paid $6,000
above the list price after competing with other buyers for the home
located inside the loop.

Bradford was surprised to see sellers refusing to budge on prices during his search.

“When
I was dealing with sellers who had an irrational emotional attachment
to the home, it really compromised the integrity of the process because
they were not willing to understand what the market would bear,” said
Bradford.

– Washington: Inventory in and around the nation’s
capital dropped 40 percent compared with last November — the steepest
rate among Southern cities in the AP-Re/Max report.

Industry experts say a decline in inventory is key to a sustainable housing recovery.

Existing
home sales in Washington rose 36 percent from last November, while the
median sales price inched up 1 percent to $286,000, the AP-Re/Max
report showed.

In the “close-in” areas of Washington — which
includes areas just outside the city such as Montgomery County, Md.,
and Fairfax County, Va. — the dollar volume of home sales surged 64
percent over last November, said Donna Evers, president of Evers &
Co. Real Estate in Washington.