Existing Home Sales are UP...

The good news is starting to surface. The credit crisis is working itself out (although we still may see some fallout at some of the big banks, like we saw at Bear Stearns a few weeks ago), the interest rates are low, loan limits are rising, buyer confidence is increasing and there are still plenty of good deals to be had in the residential real estate market.

This is a positive turn of events in what has been a steady stream of bad news report after bad news report. I think we can all agree that we won't see any sort of meteoric rise in the housing market, but that backs up the school of thought that if you are thinking of buying a home, don't wait. You won't know we hit bottom until you're looking back a few months at it and you (and all the sellers) have read articles discussing "when" the bottom was. Try negotiating with sellers then, we're already seeing them hold their ground on the asking prices.

It's still a buyer's market, Jump in! - Jeff

Existing-Home Sales Rise in February

Daily Real Estate News March 24, 2008

Sales of existing homes increased in February and remain within a fairly stable range, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million units in February from a pace of 4.89 million in January, but remain 23.8 percent below the 6.60 million-unit level in February 2007. The sales pace has been in a fairly narrow range since last September.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the gain is encouraging. “We’re not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing,” he says. “Buyers taking advantage of higher loan limits for both FHA and conventional mortgages will unleash some pent-up demand. As inventories are drawn down, prices in many markets should go positive later this year.”

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $195,900 in February, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier when the median was $213,500. Because the slowdown in sales from a year ago is greater in high-cost areas, there is a downward pull to the national median with relatively fewer sales in higher priced markets.

Source: NAR