The trend for home sales locally followed the nation's lead, according to an article in the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Home sales had their strongest performance of 2009 in November. The reason? The deadline on the 2009 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit. Sales showed modest gains over a strong October 2009 and substantial gains from a year earlier (November 2008).
Nationally, sales were 44.1 percent higher than in November 2008, the National Association of Realtors reported yesterday, with 51 percent of the purchases attributable tofirst-time buyers.
In the Philadelphia suburban area, the comparison between November 2009 and 2008 was much more significant with Chester County sales up 82%, Delaware County up 101% and Montgomery County 81%.
What is an unknow is where sales will be in early 2010 as buyers shop to meet the April 30 deadline for the expanded and extended tax credit.
What to watch? Will mortgage rates rise and will the inventory of houses continue to decrease (they've gone down considerably over the last few months in the three Suburban West counties) but if our team is any indication, we've got a lot of inventory coming on early in the year.
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