While sales activity was down in April 2011 compared with April 2010, average and median sale prices increased compared with the previous month of March 2011. Additionally, inventory was 0.7 months lower than April 2010, reaching the lowest inventory level for the area since October 2009. Closed sales were down 17% in April 2011 compared to April 2010. Pending sales were down 33%, and new listings dropped 34.2%. See residential highlights table below. Comparing March 2011 with April 2011, closed sales dipped from 1,615 to 1,611 (-0.3%). Pending sales also decreased from 2,014 to 2,005 (-0.5%). New listings went up from 3,056 to 3,099 (1.4%). At the month’s rate of sales, the 10,593 active residential listings would last about 6.6 months. Sale Prices Average sale price for April 2011 declined 5.2% compared to April 2010. Median sale price also fell 8.4%. See residential highlights table below. Month to month, comparing March 2011 to April 2011, sale prices increased. Average sale price went up from $261,100 to $267,300 (2.4%) while median sale price also increased from $215,000 to $219,900 (2.3%). Year-to-Date Comparing January-April 2010 with the same period in 2011, sales activity was down. Closed sales decreased by 6.6% (5,900 v. 5,513). Pending sales went down by 19.7% (8,476 v. 6,806), and new listings fell 30.9% (17,918 v. 12,378). Additionally, the average sale price fell 8.1% ($279,700 v. $257,000), and the median sale price dropped 10.4% ($239,900 v. $215,000).