Pending Homes Sales Up for Sixth Straight Month
Pending home sales are on the rise for the sixth straight month. This type of increase has not been seen since 2001 according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist, said the housing market momentum has taken a turn for the better and attributes it to housing affordability and the first-time buyer stimulus. With housing so affordable consumers are trying to take advantage before the prices turn. Typical mortgage payments now take less than 25% of a middle income family’s monthly income to buy an average priced home.
NAR estimates that about 1.8 to 2.0 million first-time buyers will take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit this year, with about 350,000 additional sales that would not have taken place if not for the stimulus. Buyers are scrambling to get into homes before the tax credit runs out on November 30th. Transactions must be complete by this time to qualify for the credit…this leaves approximately two month to complete the sale.
