Taking a Breather

When I thought about the title for this post I realized it could refer to my recent low postings as well as the real estate market itself! And they are inter-related somewhat. I have been busy with several transactions that went into contract prior to the Home Buyers Tax Credit expiring last month. Now the rush has been to get them closed prior to the deadline of June 30th.

And the market has been taking a breather as well. New sales (new contracts to purchase) are down this month in spite of great mortgage rates (lower again this week and now around 4.78% for a 30 year fixed rate conforming loan). April sales were up as would be expected in the last month of the tax credit to approx 5.65M annual rate. I would expect May new contracts to show a pretty significant decline but closings will continue strong through June. Inventory is up slightly since April 30th and the forecast for the national market is for prices to decline slightly through the end of the year. Locally I am not sure we will see a signifcant decline in prices nor one that will last for long. Employment is improving and mortgage rates are exteremely attractive. There is a large pent-up demand for upgrading or trading up in the populace at large. If rates remain low and the economic news continues to show improvement, then the real estate market will continue to recover. You can't keep a good deMANd down for long!