Business

October is a month of home sales surge in the US
by Zuzana Zelenakova

As the National Association of Realtors in Washington reported October was a month when home sales have risen 10.1 percent, which is the fastest pace in more than two years. Last month, 6.1 million homes were sold as compared to 5.54 million in September. It is much bigger jump than economists have expected. The atmosphere in real estate becomes competitive and aggressive once again for home buyers as they have to try hard to get home they want against other bids. If home sales keep their current pace there is supply enough for seven months only. The surge has been driven by low interest rates, tax credit for first time home buyers and low home prices. The median home pric! e, that is price when half of the units were sold for less and the other half for more, was $173,100 in October, which is down 7 percent as compared to the same period last year and about 2 percent from September. When it comes to the tax credit for first time owners, up to $8,000, it was originally supposed to expire on November 30. However, Congress extended its duration and modified it in a way that will enable people who have owned their current homes for at least five years to get a tax credit of up to $6,500 when buying a new home. "The incentives really did get people to go out and buy," said Wells Fargo economist Adam York. "The question is: What does the trend look like when the credit is over with?" And he is definitely not alone to ask that question. "Just because we're stabilizing, I can't comfortably tell you we're back to a normal market," said Rock, an agent with Re/Max Crossroads. "It might be another year."

related story (sgx15985):! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091123/ap_on_bi_ge/us_home_sale...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 2:07 PM