The number of new and existing homes sold in Boone County tumbled 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year ago, and the median home price fell 7 percent, according to the Columbia Board of Realtors.

Falling home sales: Boone County

Source: Columbia Board of Realtors

For the year, the number of homes sold dropped 18 percent compared to 2007, but the median price only fell $500, less than a half-percent, compared to 2007.

Carol Van Gorp, CEO of the Columbia Board of Realtors, said many homebuyers and some sellers were in "analysis paralysis" during the fall and winter as the credit freeze, layoffs and political change made headlines.

Real estate agents say the period from Thanksgiving to the National Football League’s Super Bowl, which is Sunday, is always slow, Van Gorp said, but this year economic turmoil added to the inactivity.

"Everybody just hunkered down and took a wait-and-see attitude," she said.

Van Gorp said another factor in the fourth-quarter slowdown was that buyers were waiting to see whether the government was going to offer more incentives or whether interest rates would continue to fall.

"You just don’t know if you’re better off to wait or to go ahead," she said. "The difficult news is my own members, whose volumes are down significantly. ... We’ve lost 60 to 70 Realtors since the summer."

As for home prices, the only segment of the market that saw an increase from a year ago was new homes. The median price of a new home in the fourth quarter of 2007 was $182,900. In 2008 it was $242,500.

Van Gorp said builders are not constructing homes on speculation and are not building homes in the $150,000 to $200,000 range. Much of the new home inventory is in the higher price range.

"So when the few new homes that are sold are the ones that have a lot of amenities, it pushes up that price," Van Gorp said. "Buyers are expecting more because they know it’s a tight market. Buyers are really passing up homes unless they have the granite countertops and Jacuzzi tubs."

Sheri Radman, an agent with Re/Max Boone Realty and the current president of the Columbia Board of Realtors, said agents have seen an uptick in business in the past couple of weeks.

"My personal feeling was that once the inauguration of the new president happened, ... people were feeling a little more optimistic. I feel this is going to be a better spring than last year."

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