Existing Home Sales Up In April
WASHINGTON (May 24, 2010) – Existing-home sales rose again in April with buyers motivated by the tax credit, improving consumer confidence and favorable affordability conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million units in April from an upwardly revised 5.36 million in March, and are 22.8 percent higher than the 4.70 million-unit pace in April 2009. Monthly sales rose 7.0 percent in March.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the gain was widely anticipated. “The upswing in April existing-home sales was expected because of the tax credit inducement, and no doubt there will be some temporary fallback in the months immediately after it expires, but other factors also are supporting the market,” he said. “For people who were on the sidelines, there’s been a return of buyer confidence with stabilizing home prices, an improving economy and mortgage interest rates that remain historically low.”
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Pending Sales of Existing Homes Rise 5.3%
By Shobhana Chandra – Bloomberg BusinessWeek – May 4, 2010
More Americans signed contracts in March to buy previously owned homes before the expiration of a tax credit that has helped support the housing market.
The housing market, which triggered the worst recession since the 1930s, has received a boost from a tax incentive of as much as $8,000 for buyers who signed the contracts by the end of April. Job gains are needed to help sustain demand and limit foreclosures in the absence of government aid, broadening the economic recovery.
“More people came in to beat the rush,” Stephen Gallagher, chief U.S. economist at Societe Generale SA in New York, said before the report. “Sales are rising at a pretty healthy clip. There’s growing confidence that the job market has bottomed out and is crawling up again.”
Sales were projected to rise in March after an originally reported gain of 8.2 percent in February, according to the median of 39 forecasts in the Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from gains of 0.9 percent to 9 percent.
Orders placed with U.S. factories unexpectedly rose in March, propelled by demand for business equipment and petroleum, signaling the economic expansion gained speed at the end of the first quarter.
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Is Now The Time To Buy?
By Beth Braverman, staff reporter – Money Magazine
March 2, 2010: 10:30 AM ET
If you’ve been holding off on a real estate purchase, glimmers of a turnaround in the housing market may have you wondering if it’s finally time to make your move.
Is Opportunity Knocking?
While home prices remain low, they’re no longer free-falling in most markets. Mortgages are historically cheap. And the sweet tax credit that was offered to new buyers last year has been extended to April 30 and expanded to include current homeowners too.
Besides the loss of the tax credit, the biggest game-changer facing buyers is a potential jump in mortgage rates.
If the Fed moves ahead with its plan to stop buying mortgage-backed securities at the end of March, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is expected to increase nearly a percentage point from today’s 5.18% to 6.1% by the end of 2010, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
On a $300,000 fixed-rate mortgage, that’s an extra $174 per month.
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