Tuesday, July 07, 2009

THE USUALLY GLOOMY CASE-SHILLER INDEX STARTING TO REPORT REAL ESTATE GAINS

With the overall report slightly negative for last month, if Dallas, Denver, DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston and Cleveland are showing small increase in home sales, will FLORIDA BE NEXT? According to Realty Times, “even the most bearish of researchers agree: prices are bottoming out, even in some of the hardest hit areas.” They report that detached houses resales were up 56% over a year ago, and condo sales up 30%. Sale prices, however, were down, e.g., down 38% in Phoenix. Consumer confidence is up, especially in willingness to consider “big ticket” items, such as a home. With mortgage rates still very low, this may be THE LAST BEST TIME to buy, RIGHT NOW. Keep in mind that with so many job losses every month and unemployment rates very high, touch credit and underwriting, it is not yet “happy days are here again” by any means. But how nice it is to see a start to home sales trending UP.

2 comments:

Sam DeBord said...

We've seen great sales numbers in Seattle for June - Case-Shiller didn't record these numbers yet. A strong summer of home sales is still possible.

Marilyn Farber Jacobs said...

How about sending me some referrals... perhaps you have upscale clients who want to spend the winters in a warm climate... where it's not so rainy... Thanks for the comments. A strong summer of home sales here in Polo Club is also still possible.