Home Sales UP THIS QUARTER!
For 3 straight months, existing home sales have been up. A very good sign that we are moving forward to get ourselves out of the housing slump that we have been in. Sales went up by 3.6% in June for a total of 4.89 million units being sold during the month. The median and average sales price of home has gone up, though still down, 15.4 and 11.8 percent respectively.
So what does all of this data show? It tells us that with all of these “Distressed Sales” are getting people back into the market. Whether it be purchasing a short sale or a foreclosure, individuals are buying. In certain areas that means we have less inventory on the market then we did the same time last year!
Are housing prices still low and when will they go up? Well, yes the housing prices are still low. We currently have the $8,000 home buyer credit which is incentivizing individuals to buy, but that ends November 31st. We have to get the demand to increase at even higher levels to increase the housing prices. We still have far too many foreclosures and short sales in the market to see even a stability of the housing prices. So when will it occur? It will take at least 2 1/2 to 3 years. We took a while getting into this mess and it will take a bit to get out of it. But do not worry, for most markets, especially those in major markets - they will be perfectly fine and even better then fine in the long run. If you want to invest, this is the time to BUY!
Look forward to seeing you in a future workshop! Have questions or comments - leave them right here! I look forward to hearing from you!
Prabhjit Singh