National Housing Numbers - Market Still a Thrill Ride
This week two sets of numbers for the National Housing Market came out, and it appears we are still on a roller coaster. The first numbers to come out this week were existing home sales, which were not good. According to the National Association of Realtors not only did we not the expected 5.2% increase in existing home sales for May, but we experienced a 2.2% decrease. This comes on the heals of a nice 8% jump in April. Two factors that are causing problems are the June 30 deadline to close for the tax credit, as well as the interruption in the National Flood Insurance Program.
Across the country we saw existing home sales rise 4.9% in the west, 0.5% in the South, no change in the midwest, but a whopping 18% drop in the Northeast.
Following on the heals of that report came the new home sales numbers for May. New home sales fell (or should I say plunged) 32.7% in May. This time there was no part of the country that was sparred. by we region we saw a 23.9% fall in the Midwest, 25.4% decrease in the south, in the Northwest the numbers fell 33.3% and in the West a stunning 53.2%.
So what do these numbers tell us, as Realtors we know that the market is still not stable. Many economists were taken completely by surprise, many had predicted that we were "out of the woods" and headed to a strong recovery. As Realtors this information is extremely important, remember information is power. This tells us that we need to continue to be prepared, do not assume that all is better and we can revert back to old ways. It also tells us that we need to reread books like Shift, and check our notes from books such as Soci@l.
We as Realtors need to understand that we are going to have to continue to look for innovative ways to market ourselves, find ways to out perform the past, and be creative and innovative as to how we conduct business. Knowing where the market is at only helps in navigating through it. Challenges remain, but we can stay healthy in our business lives.
Any buyers or sellers that are looking for assistance in your real estate transaction, feel free to contact GettysburgGerry for assistance.
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