High-end homes selling 50 percent over last year

Not only have sale prices for existing homes and builder confidence risen in recent months, but sales of high-end homes have exploded, year-over-year, according to data from the National Association of Realtors cited by NBC News. Sales of homes priced above $750,000 grew 50 percent from a year ago, even as sales of the lowest-end homes, which are largely distressed, fell 4 percent, according to the realtor group.

The surge of pricey home sales has even pushed the median home price nationally to $180,600 — a 10.1 percent increase from November of 2011. However, NAR defined median as half of homes selling higher than $180,600 and half selling lower, which does not compare the sale prices of homes selling now to similar homes selling a year ago, but to the median of all sale prices nationally, skewing the number toward which types of homes are selling.

“An increase in the median price has a direct effect on the economy and economic growth,” Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist, said. [NBC News] —Christopher Cameron