Posted by Lindsey Connell
The real estate market has changed dramatically over the last few years and its stunted growth has put many people out of work. The problem is that with the economy today, people are less willing to spend their money which means houses aren’t being sold. What is surprising however, is the quick change in the real estate market. Sales of single family homes, townhouses, condos and co-ops rose by just over 10% in October, and were 24% above where they were a year before. Closed transactions also rose over 12% and specialists believe this jump is due to first time buyers trying to make their purchase before expiration of the $8,000 federal tax credit. Another reason for this is because house prices are very low and are now more affordable to more people. A study even showed that houses are now more affordable than they have been at any point in the last five years. The percentage of people able to afford houses on the market even rose from 56.1% to 62%. The cost of houses on the market today are now 8.2% less than they were a year ago, which will hopefully stimulate the economy and get more customers to purchase homes. We do have to keep in mind however, that if home purchases increase, the costs of the houses are sure to increase as well.