Will Real Estate Sales Stay Flat the Rest of the Year?
Now that federal home buyer tax credits have expired, experts say it’s likely that sales in the remainder of 2010 will be flat at best.
“When you have an artificial deadline to buy, all you’re doing is reaching into the future and cramming those sales into today’s market,” says Peter Chabris, a Realtor with Keller Williams Advisors Realty.
Federal tax credits worth up to $8,000 to first-time buyers and $6,500 to move-up buyers fueled double-digit gains in home sales in April. The number of closings jumped more than 32 percent in Southwest Ohio and 23 percent in Northern Kentucky over April 2009. To qualify for the credits, buyers had to sign a purchase contract by April 30 and must close by June 30.
Among the biggest X-factors challenging the housing market’s recovery remain local employment levels and the unknown number of foreclosures still to come.
In April, the region’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level so far this year – but it still remained at 10.2 percent, compared to 8.9 percent one year ago.
“You can’t have an immediate recovery with (an unemployment rate) like that,” Chabris says.
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