The NAR has released today their report on existing homes sales for September 2008; this marks the first year-over-year monthly increase since November 2005.  The NAR proffers some of their usual spin, and two points are note-worthy here.  First, the credit market’s fall woes won’t have impacted sales closing in September as much as the credit market issues will impact subsequent sales.  Secondly, depending on the source you’d like to use, it would appear that at least 35 to 40% of the sales are distressed sales.

A further promising note is the reduction in inventory – though no doubt there are significant seasonal influences at play here. 

Finally, the largest gains in sales of existing home sales occurred in the West. 

Graphs courtesy of the talented folks at CalculatedRisk. 

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