Let's take a trip in the WABAC Machine (proncounced "wayback") to see what our current market landscape looks like compared to years past.
• The 1,026 signed purchase agreements for the week ending August 15? That's the most since 2005.
• The 25,765 active listings for sale? The fewest since 2005.
• The 1,630 new listings? Fewest since 2002.
In other words, buyer activity is growing and supply is shrinking. There are fewer homes available per buyer than at any point since 2005, and inventory should only continue to tighten through the remainder of the year.
There are misperceptions about the housing market bottoming; thus it's not hard to see buyers who are looking for bargains and the pulled forward demand for the first-time buyer credit. Is there any statistics on the Notice of Default ?
There are less foreclosures now, but how can I find out about the pending foreclosures or the statistics of delinquent mortgage payers?
It's hard to believe that house prices can sustain any growth with this kind of unemployment, but I may be wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Posted by: Potential First Time Home Buyer | August 26, 2009 at 01:53 AM
The tax credit (as well as low rates, which won't last forever) is definitely spurring demand, as you allude to.
Foreclosures and defaults are rising, unfortunately but not surprisingly in this recession. For great data on that subject check out what the Minnesota Home Ownership Center is putting together: http://www.hocmn.org/en/reports.cfm.
Home prices have been under downward pressure for a very long time but have reached bottom we believe in the lowest price ranges, as well as for foreclosures. They're just not going to get any cheaper.
There's a blog post coming in about a half hour on that subject.
Posted by: Jeff Allen | August 26, 2009 at 08:56 AM
Jeff, Thank you for pointing me to a website.
I just found a news article that kind of answer part of my curiosity: http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_13173164
Posted by: Potential First Time Home Buyer | August 26, 2009 at 09:42 AM