Home Real Estate Which Way Are U.S. Home Sales Headed?

Which Way Are U.S. Home Sales Headed?

Written by Jonathan Smoke

05.29.2007

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) Nationally, new home sales were up in April. Existing home sales were down in April. Were new home sales an aberration? Or a result of significant incentives from builders to prime the slow-so-far spring selling season? Here’s some direct honesty: We don’t know where this national market is heading in the short-term. Here are some things we do know: Home prices do not always go up. Home prices and home sales do not follow a consistently slow trend. They can be relatively volatile. Home prices and home sales aren’t in lock step with the national economy. Recessions don’t necessarily impact home sales and a decline in home prices and homes sales don’t necessarily trigger recessions. Some local markets are considerably down. Some local markets are doing quite well. Credit tightening has become an issue everywhere, but where prices are stable, with interest rates relatively low, there are lots of financing alternatives for most buyers. Purchase mortgage applications are up indicating that buyers in some markets are getting off the bench. We live in an integrated global economy where capital, interest rates, economic output, and even cost of materials are clearly no longer as controlled by local and national trends. Yet housing is far more impacted by local trends. The best intelligence for housing decisions is intelligence on the local market, down to the vicinity of the home or community in which you have invested or are considering investing. And believe it or not, the local potential of a housing investment is easier to predict than the national picture, if you have the proper intelligence and view of the market. So, enjoy monitoring the national numbers. After all, we report them and watch them too. But at the end of the day, knowing what’s going on locally is where you will get the most insight. We're always looking for feedback from our readers. There are no comments for this item. Please login or register to post comments. J! Reactions Commenting Software General Site License Copyright © 2006 S. A. DeCaro

 

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