Northwest Indiana home sales fell slightly in July, but bucked a national trend by posting a gain in median selling price.
Buyers came away with 754 new and existing homes in Lake and Porter counties combined, a 1.3 percent decline from 764 in July 2006, according to information from the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.
The median selling price of a home in Northwest Indiana climbed to $154,900, a 7.1 percent increase from $144,575 last year.
Nationwide, sales of existing homes dropped for a fifth straight month in July, falling to the slowest pace in nearly five years.
Home prices fell for a record straight month, the National Association of Realtors reported.
Sales of existing homes in the nation dipped by 0.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units.
The median price of a home sold last month slid to $230,200, down by 0.6 percent from the median price a year ago.
It marked the 12th consecutive month that home prices have declined, a record stretch, the National Realtors Association reported.
A 1 percent increase in sales in the Northeast region of the country was cause for hope that the worst of the housing downturn may be ending.
"The rise in sales and prices in the Northeast region on a fairly consistent basis in recent months is promising because this was the first region that underwent sales and price weakness after the boom," said Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the Realtors. "Now, it appears that it will be the first region to climb back, indicating that other regions could follow a similar path."
In other regions, sales rose by 1.8 percent in the West, were unchanged in the South and fell by 2.2 percent in the Midwest.
By county in Northwest Indiana, housing sales climbed by .91 percent in Lake County to 557 in July, while the median selling price increased by 9 percent to $139,900.
In Porter County, 197 homes were sold in July, compared to 212 in the same month a year ago. The median selling price climbed by 4.2 percent to $179,100.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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