Housing Market See Increase

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

by The Houses By Harlan Team

Seen on Keloland:

Money Matters: Housing Market Sees Increase

http://www.keloland.com/videoarchive/index.cfm?VideoFile=081809mm

We keep hearing the housing market is on the rebound and there are now some numbers to prove it. Home sales in 14 states saw double digit gains in July, including South Dakota, where sales were up nearly 20 percent compared to a year ago.

The last time we checked in on the Sioux Falls housing market in June, home sales were down 17 percent. But what a difference a month can make.

"If you look at this year's July versus last year's July, at least a 20 percent increase and last year was a pretty good year for us, our fifth or sixth best year on record. So to have that kind of swing from June to July is a real good indicator we've got some positive things happening," Barton Hacker of the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire said.

Hacker credits the $8,000 dollar first-time homebuyers tax incentive for making a big difference. But he also says more expensive homes are also starting to sell and that's why home prices are down only about 2 percent, compared to 5 percent earlier this year.

"We went for a while, everyone was going after homes $120,000 to $130,000 or less. Now what you're seeing happening is the average buyer looking at your $150,000 to $160,000 home, which is increasing our medium and average price for the year," Hacker said.

There are still more homes on the market and they're staying on longer, about 100 days instead of about 90. But Hacker thinks that gap could close in the next few months.

"But we are anticipating a good fall mostly because of people coming out at the last minute to take advantage of this tax credit," said Hacker.

Closing can take up to a month, so first-time homebuyers looking to take advantage of that tax credit really need to do so by October. The deadline to close is November 30.