Home Sales

There are two housing markets, "one for the rich and one for everyone else," writes Michelle Conlin. Sales and subsequent bidding wars are back in richer neighborhoods, while approximately 98.5% of the population see no end to the recession just yet.

New figures from the National Association of Realtors show that the number of new homes being built and the number of homes being sold were both down during May.

More first-time, energy-conscious, urban home buyers with smaller households have contributed to a noticeable reduction in home size as shown in 2008-2009 housing Census data. Concurrently, lower-priced home sales outpaced more expensive homes.

In this segment from NPR, a Dallas residential realtor talks about how his city -- where the average price has actually gone up about 2% over the last year -- has bucked the national downward housing trend.