In what is being called another indicator of the recovery to the housing market the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicated that sales for home sales have surged by as much as 10% in April. During that month it was reported that 4.62 million homes were sold, which was a 3.4% rise in comparison to the previous month. NAR revealed that of those homes that were sold the median price was listed at $177,400, a 10% jump when compared to the previous year’s numbers.
Finding confidence
Although there have been early reports of stagnation in some areas of the country, all four regions have reported to experience a marked improvement in the housing market with each citing gains. Many experts have expressed that the key components have been ready for some time in regards to a good solid recovery and the only thing that was missing was the confidence from the public.
What is also helping boost the market at the moment is the fact that home buying as a whole is the most affordable it has been in decades. With the number of default or repossessed properties decreasing the prices of traditional sale homes got a boost. Because of this these properties, which generally go at a much higher rate, are being sold at huge discounts.
Decrease in Distressed properties
Distressed properties for some time had accounted for a remarkable portion of what was on the market, April amounting to 28% of sales. This is significantly down from just a year ago, with a decrease of 37%. As been the case throughout the economic downturn the experts believe that we are moving towards a recovery, however it is going to be a slow one.
Many believe that there may be real reasons to be optimistic, things will not change drastically this year. One of the biggest determents to this is the fact that many lenders are still looking hard at credit, which is tight right now. Both builders and those who are borrowing are having a hard time getting the money they need even with interest rates at some of their all time lows.
Another positive factor is the fact that people are not just buying homes for the investment anymore, there are many people who actually want a home to live in. This is having a residual benefit for helping the sale of homes across all demographics and price points.
As things finally start to become more stable you may start to see a shift in homeowners who have been sitting on their home and are now comfortable enough to attempt to put it on the market. The inventory of homes rose to 9.5 million homes this April, a common spring occurrence, and sellers will be working hard to reach their customers during the busiest selling season of the year.
One main point to consider is that the overall supply of homes for sale has decreased by over 20% compared to this time last year. This is a buyer’s market, and the prices are certainly right.
