For Seniors: What IS the Real Estate Market Doing?

Posted On: Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:13am | Posted By: Nancy Meyer
Topics: Community Information, Market Statistics | Tags: sellers, seniors, tax credits

Many seniors have owned their homes for a long time, and are starting to think about downsizing. And with all the contradictory information about the real estate market, you must be wondering if it’s up or down or what? And is now a good time to sell?

Lord Abbett (www.lordabbett.com) reports that one reason for the inconsistency of 2010 real estate sales figures is the now-expired federal first time home buyer credit. Because the credit was set to expire in November of 2009, people who might otherwise have bought in December, January and February bought earlier, causing sales to drop 12% in those months. The $8000 credit was then extended to April 30th which crowded sales into March and April and drove sales up 30%. Then, again, sales dropped, this time by about 30% in May.

None of this, however, says anything fundamental about the US housing market which shows that there is a 27% drop in the inventory of unsold homes in the last 12 months nationwide, while the median home sale price is up 5.3% according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

Nancy Meyer

In this transitional and often confusing housing market, you want someone you can trust, someone who knows the neighborhoods, who can market your home
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