First-time buyers rushed to take advantage of tax credit
WASHINGTON - Home resales posted the largest monthly increase in at least 10 years last month as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit that expires this fall.
The National Association of Realtors says home sales rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million last month, from a pace of 4.89 million in June.
It was the fourth-straight monthly increase and the highest level of sales since August 2007. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
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So I see there are no "So hows that Obama thing working for you" comments here. He can't undo what took Bush 8 years to mess up in just a few short months. Give him a chance...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anon 10:31 wholeheartedly. I'm tired of those people criticizing his plan but not proposing any plan of their own, even a bad one.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like, given what all came to a boil about the same time as he was elected, we'd at least give him and his people an opportunity to assess the situation and then come up with a plan.
We're all in the same boat, and it benefits us all to row.
I just posted this under another post.
ReplyDeleteI knew the democrats would buy this bullsh!t. Now let's watch those cheap bastards go out, buy stock and recover the economy. Nah, they don't trust one of their own and they'll wait and hope some republicans buy it and then take credit for the recovery, NOT! Ain't gonna happen any time soon, you FOOLS.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. This government will do ANYTHING to drain every last penny from Americans, including lying. Yeah, the real estate market is booming, the highest increase in the pasdt 10 years. I guess Pohanka will be selling a ton of new Mercedes soon too, NOT!
Buy this BS and you will drown. Don't buy this BS and save everywhere you possibly can you'll still be able to eat without BEGGING your government for a slice of bread.
Its because all the builders had to dump the houses for less than they owed on them just to get out from under them somewhat. I wouldnt read to much into this. A lot of these homes may be bought by investment groups rather than regular families.
ReplyDeleteI've been casually house shopping for the last 6 months, and the deals keep getting better. Some of the "fixer uppers" are starting to go for half of what the last mortgage was written for, but the price of a reasonably modern, maintained house has asking prices that aren't that discounted, relatively speaking. And either I'm getting better at locating foreclosures, or the number of this type of inventory keeps increasing relative to the rest of the market.
ReplyDeleteIt still seems that the foreclosures and deep discounts have yet to fully take place on the Shore. The national numbers seem way higher than what I have seen locally. We had astronomical rises in home values just like everybody else, but the wages in the area did not keep pace with the cost of living. A correction still seems to be in order. By my estimates, the median sale in our market needs to be around $150,000 for housing to be remotely considered affordable.
We know how the housing market as a whole is doing by the talk of extending the tax credit. $8000 is a good discount, especially if you buy late in the year and can get the money back relatively soon with tax filings 6 months out. Demand for mortgages is weak and yields on treasuries are still pretty low. It's still a buyer's market, in my eyes, and there's no reason to settle for anything less than a really good deal.
Joe - any chance you could find an honest and reputable realtor to write about the market on your blog?
11:15 am, who cares if builders are dumping the houses. They made a bad move planning on getting 350,000 for a rancher. Their bad move will hopefully mean a good investment for a young family who will pick up the property for what its really worth. Or atleast a smart investment group will pick it up; isn't this the capitalism that the right cheers for and claims the left is against?
ReplyDeleteAnd HOW many of those are foreclosures? MANY! And some want to view this as a GOOD sign?
ReplyDeleteIt's mediocre at best!
11:43 The housing market devaluation hasn't hit this area as badly as other areas simply because of the low number of foreclosures. Where home prices have taken an appreciable dive is in areas where mega-developments were built, many bought homes in one of the communities at the same time when the prices were unreasonably high, a high number of those homeowners lost their jobs, and there was a glut of high-priced houses in which people were upside down for sale in a defined area. By and large the Eastern Shore doesn't fit that bill. Now had that community they've been proposing been built in Hebron, many in that community would be choking on their houses and what they could sell for.
ReplyDeleteTo see the effects here, look at the rentals and vacancies occurring in Harbor Pointe.
ReplyDeleteJoe, your hateful spew toward Democrats is getting old.
You make it sound like Republicans told the truth that everything was fine and the market wasn't slowing down...long before the election took place.
The article you posted didn't claim we're in a big recovery. All it did was state some statistics.
You remind me of the Republicans wishing everything fails and wars worsen so they can regain the White House, regardless of how many people are out on the street or killed.
I thought you were better than that kind of destructive partisanship. Don't come back at me with the "Democrats did it."
Someone has to take the first step to be above this type of talk, regardless of "who started it."
the value of your house is DOWN whether or not you own it or have it mortgaged to the hilt.
ReplyDeleteyour assessments HAVEN'T! your taxes go UP, no matter what.
frankly, i'm sick of being constantly reminded.