Some Oklahoma cities saw gain in 2009 home prices

Home prices ticked up last year in Altus, Bartlesville, Lawton, the Midwest City, Del City and Moore area, Ponca City and Shawnee, but the gains weren’t enough to prop up the statewide average.

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That’s according to year-end statistics from the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, which calculated the state average home sale price at $147,296 in 2009, down 3.7 percent from 2008.

The largest drop was in the Ardmore area, where the average sale price of $112,172 was 23.5 percent less than in 2008. The smallest decrease was in Enid, where the average price of $112,842 was 1.4 percent down from 2008.

Altus had the largest increase, 9.9 percent, to an average price of $94,592. Norman squeaked by with the tiniest increase, 0.02 percent, to an average of $158,134.

The sputtering housing market also was seen in the dip in the numbers of homes changing hands.

Home sales handled by the state’s 9,000-plus Realtors — homes bought directly from builders and direct transactions between buyers and sellers were not counted — fell 4.6 percent down to 44,897 last year.

The biggest percentage drop in the number of home sales was 32.5 percent in Woodward, where just 129 homes sold. The smallest percentage drop was 2.1 percent in the Oklahoma City area, where 16,038 homes changed hands in 2009.

Only Lawton, benefiting from an influx of people to Fort Sill, saw an increase in the number of home sales — 1,706, up 10.1 percent over 2008.

The Realtors cautioned that the annual averages don’t tell “the entire story.”

Sales were down in the first quarter of last year, but for the rest of the year they were comparable to 2008, the association said.

The average price fell partly because in the second half of the year first-timer buyers responding to federal tax incentives rushed to buy less expensive houses, bringing down the average price, the Realtors said.

For 2010?

“I am optimistic,” said Doug Emde, owner of ERA Emde & Associates in Stillwater and president of the Oklahoma Association of Realtors. “While the overall economy is still not out of the woods, I feel that the real estate market has hit the bottom of its cycle and will start to improve.”

Federal inducements to people to buy homes should fuel demand at least until April 30 when tax credits expire, he said.

“The extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit along with the new $6,500 tax credit for existing homeowners (who buy a house) should provide real incentives for people that are sitting on the fence,” Emde said.