Home sales in Iowa declined more than 17% between August 2008 and August 2009. Iowa Association of Realtors President Terry Knapp says there were actually more pending sales last month than homes sold.

“One of the reasons for that is it takes longer to close sales because of the new federal regulations in lending,” Knapp said. “Over the next few months, we think those pendings will decrease and the sales will swing back up.”

The realtors group reports 2,981 homes were sold across Iowa last month, down from 3,606 sales in August 2008. There were 5,863 new listings placed on the market in August 2009, compared to 5,273 listings last August.”I think that illustrates that the people’s faith is being restored back in the marketplace,” Knapp said.

Another bright spot in the latest IAR report is a continued dip in days homes are on the market. On average, homes sold in Iowa last month spent 97 days on the market. That’s down from 105 days in June and 103 days in July.

The average sale price of a home last month was $143,469. That’s down just 1.8% from a year ago. Knapp attributes the steady sales price to first time home buyers taking advantage of the $8,000 first time home buyers tax credit. That federal tax credit will expire November 30.