In the York, PA market in October, new home sales fell year-over-year, and the market seemed to be worsening in light of the percentage fall harsher than September 2011. New home sales saw a decline of 56.5% from the year earlier to 20. This followed a 40.5% decline year-over-year in September.

A total of 402 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in October, down from 428 for the year that ended in September.

Out of all housing sales, new home sales made up 4.7%, less than the 9.3% of sales a year earlier. Following a year-over-year increase in September, sales of new and existing homes sank year-over-year in October.

Average price of newly sold homes saw a 10.3% drop year-over-year in October to $190,874 per unit. This decline is larger than the 2.1% decline in September from a year earlier.

The average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a drop year-over-year in contrast to new home prices. The average mortgage size dropped to $131,459 in October, marking a 15.2% decline compared with last year. In September 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 22.4% surge year-over-year from a year earlier. The overall percentage of sale price that was being financed dipped 3.9 percentage points year-over-year to 68.9% in October 2011. In September 2011, there was an 18.1 percentage point rise from a year earlier.

As a share of new home sales, single-family home sales have climbed from last year while the share belonging to attached units has fallen. Single-family home sales climbed from 82.6% of new sales in October 2010 to 90.0% of sales in October 2011. Meanwhile, attached units as a percentage of all new home sales fell to 10.0% of sales from 17.4% of sales.

The average unit size of newly sold homes sank 40.6% year-over-year to 1,232 square feet in October 2011.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales remained a burden on the market. Out of all existing home sales, foreclosures combined with REO sales represented 32.1% of sales. They accounted for 38.6% in October 2010. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures declined to 17.9% in October from 20.8% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales fell to 14.2% from 17.9% a year earlier.

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