Apr 4
Existing-home sales are projected to trend up in 2008, with pending home sales showing a slight near-term rise, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of REALTORS®. However, a recovery for new-home sales is unlikely before 2009.
Dec 18, 2008 at 9:17 AM Middle Georgia residential sales continue to wade through what we call the sloppy bottom of the recent sales slump but many signs of a rebound are apparent in the market.
The National Association of Realtors reported positive news for the month of September as existing home sales rose. 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units in September from a level of 4.91 million in August, and are 1.4 percent higher than the 5.11 million-unit pace in September 2007. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said more markets are seeing year-over-year gains. The sales turnaround which began in California several months ago is broadening now to Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island. He said. the South was hamperd by much lower home sales in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
California and the West lead us into the housing slump two years ago and are leading us out as we move into 2009. Total housing inventory at the end of September fell 1.6 percent to 4.27 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.9 month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 10.6 month supply in August. This marks two consecutive monthly declines since inventories peaked in July.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed rate mortgage fell to 6.04 percent in September from 6.48 percent in August; the rate was 6.38 percent in September 2007.
In our area it still remains a great time to buy a home with housing affordability near an all-time high due to low interest rates and lower affordable home prices. Also, with the high total inventory of listed homes there is a great selection to choose from.
We are experiencing a strong upturn in local activity in the local market and look forword to a much stronger market in 2009.
Peter Solomon
President & CEO
Coldwell Banker SSK, Realtorsﾮ