Thursday, July 01, 2010

Housing Market Update

The spring market was pretty active with many first buyers wading into the market. The Government's tax credit helped people decide to get off the fence and actually purchase. Lots of buyers rushed to get into contract by April 3oth and to close by June 30th in order to receive $8000 (first time buyers) or $6500 (trade up buyers). The time table to close has now been extended til September but this will only help buyers who had already signed their contracts by April 30th.

The big fear now is that since the Government will no longer be offering incentives to purchase, buyers will no longer be as enticed into buying since they are still a bit shaken by the market place. Interest rates are incredibly low even lower then I ever thought I'd see in my lifetime. The fixed 30 year rate is around 4.5% and the 15 year is around 4% which is just incredible. The problem remaining is that banks are still holding onto their money and not lending that easily. We still need to see banks loosening their grip and credit getting easier to obtain before we will see any big strides in a housing rebound. Home prices have flattened out and have basically hit bottom. Many housing markets across the country are beginning to see slight rates of appreciation but our housing market is flat right now and foreclosures and short sales are still heavily flooding the market. Investors and savvy buyers are quickly snapping up good deals and they have been numerous bidding wars all over our area. It will still take some time before we have a completely stabilized market therefore there is still great opportunities out there for buyers to capitalize on.

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