Existing home sales surge
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, was surprised at the size of the gain. “Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,” he said. “With such a sale spike, a measurable decline should be anticipated in December and early next year before another surge in spring and early summer.”
Will inventory levels remain this low?
It is unlikely that this run up will occur in such numbers as the extended tax credit expires next spring and with shadow inventories of foreclosures withheld from the markets, inventories may not remain at this rate for long so perhaps we should relish in the news yet brace for the coming year?
Chicago, Illinois Realtor Tim McDonald of Zoom Real Estate said, “with high unemployment and large number of ARM resets coming over the next two years, I don’t foresee us being out of the woods yet. While it may be the best time to buy (with low interest rates, tax credit, and low prices), I think it also may be the best time to sell in the next 2 years (higher inventory of REOs, rising interest rates, higher unemployment and no more tax credit).”
