Californians are scrambling to purchase new construction!!!!!!

On March 1st the state of California launched it's $100,000,000 stimulus tax credit to give residential construction push in the right direction.  Although many Realtors consider new construction to be a threat to their business, it is an integral part of our local economy and provides countless employment opportunities.  It goes without saying that without jobs, people cannot purchase any type of home, be it new or used.   I was employed in the home building industry for four years and watched, as our economy turned, hundreds of my fellow colleagues lose their positions.  With my background in building I may be more passionate than most on the subject, but regardless of that, we should all be watching the building industry very closely for signs of improvement.   When construction spending is down, the rest of our economy goes with it, and vice verse.

The good news is that Californians are responding to this tax credit with much excitement and as shown below, in only 5 weeks over 3,000 new homes have been purchased in the state!  A third of the allotted funds have been claimed much faster than the state anticipated!  If you have buyers in the area that are considering new construction, encourage them to act quickly before the funds are depleted!

The inventory of available homes is quickly depleting here in Southern California, and we are down to a three month supply rather than the 9 month supply we ended 2008 with!  Hopefully this trend will spread throughout the country and we can begin to stabilize the market a bit going into next year!