Latest From : Atlanta RE 5 by 5

---

The Long-Term Trendline For Existing Home Sales Points To A Housing Recovery Posted: 25 Aug 2009 07:45 AM PDT The housing market continues to surprise. Last week, the latest good news came in the form of the monthly Existing Home Sales report. An "existing home" is a home sold by an existing owner as opposed to a developer. It's non-new construction property. The data on Existing Home Sales was noteworthy for its trends: Sales volume rose over four straight months for the first time in 5 years Sales volume rose year-to-year for the first time in 4 years Median home prices fell for the first time since April Furthermore, first-time home buyers and buyers of "distressed" homes accounted for nearly one-third of the market activity each. But, before we declare a bottom in housing, it's important that we remember the First Rule of Real Estate -- All Real Estate Is Local. The Existing Home Sales report is not neighborhood-specific. It lumps cities like San Diego and Saint Paul into a giant sample set and fails to account for regional differences in real estate, let alone neighborhood ones. This is the primary reason why on-the-ground real estate agents are better sources for a market pulse versus a report from a national trade group. The national group can't know the happenings of every street and every home in a market. That said, however, the national data isn't completely useless. Looking at the long-term patterns in the Existing Home Sales report, we can infer that ample supplies, low mortgage rates and tax credits are spurring home sales in a lot of U.S. markets. Eventually, this will lead home prices higher.

You are subscribed to email updates from Atlanta Real Estate -- Peter Bright, Mortgage Blogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610