Several other Active Rainers and I have recently written blogs and comments in which we reported that the housing market seems to have turned, and is slowly improving. I hope the recovery continues at a slow and steady pace, as it seems always to portend trouble when the action up or down happens too quickly.
Not that I wouldn't appreciate having a bit more income, but what I really want 
is for the overall economy to recover, so people will be able to afford nice homes and the foreclosures will be fewer and fewer. Then all buyers, sellers and agents will benefit. It appears that economists are beginning to see results nationwide that are as encouraging as those that some of us have been reporting in our own communities. Not all cities are showing great improvement yet, but it appears that we are all on the way.
In a December 29 article on Bloomberg News by Bob Willis, cited by the California Association of Realtors, the Standard & Poors/Case Schiller home price index figures were reported, showing that home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in October for a fifth consecutive month, putting the housing market and economy farther along the path to recovery.
Bob Willis reports, among other things in the article, that:
The index increased 0.4 percent from the prior month on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a 0.2 percent rise in September, they said a couple of days ago in New York. The gauge was down 7.3 percent from October 2008, the smallest year- over-year decline since October 2007. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News anticipated a 7.2 percent drop.
Tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are less than a percentage point from record lows may prevent the market from retreating after sales jumped 35 percent over the first 11 months of 2009. Rising home and stock prices over the past two quarters enabled households to recover 28 percent of the record $17.5 trillion of wealth lost since mid 2007.
John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina says, "We're starting to get a little bit of a turnaround, things are stabilizing. People aren't in a panic in terms of selling their homes."
The seasonally adjusted 20-city index has been rising on a month-to-month basis since June, the first gain since it started dropping in June 2006.
Compared with the prior month, 11 of the 20 areas covered showed an increase on a seasonally adjusted basis while eight had a decline. The biggest month-to-month gain was in San Francisco, which increased 1.7 percent.
All of the 20 cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller index showed a smaller year-over-year decline than in September.
To help ensure housing doesn't weaken again, President Barack Obama and Congress last month extended the tax credit until April 30 from Nov. 30, and expanded it to include some current owners.
Existing home sales in November rose to a 6.5 million annual rate, the highest level since February 2007, the National Association of Realtors said last week. They were still 10 percent lower than September 2005 peak levels.
Lawrence Yun, the NAR chief economist, says, "The tax credit had the intended impact 
of drawing buyers in and lowering inventory, and an estimated 2 million buyers have taken advantage of the credit."
I know that I have had a number of first time homebuyers in 2009, and more of my buyers have been elibigle for the tax credit than not. I'm looking forward to the first months of this year, when we should be able to kick of the year with a bang, since both first time homebuyers and experienced homebuyers will be getting tax credits!
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