Nationally, the home-buying season was a bust. March through August are typically the peak buying months in most of the country. But this time, Americans bought fewer new homes in that stretch than in any other six-month period since record-keeping began a half-century ago. And sales of previously occupied homes didn’t fare much better. They almost matched 2009’s total for the peak buying months. And that was the worst year since 1997.[...] Read More
WASHINGTON — Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
Buyers were racing to complete their sales before the original expiration date of a tax credit for first-time buyers that was scheduled to expire Nov. 30. Last month, Congress decided to extend and expand the credit to ensure the housing market could sustain its recovery.
Home prices rose for the third straight month in August, data Tuesday showed, a key sign for a broad and sustained housing recovery.[...] Read More
Home resales rose in September to the highest level in more than two years, beating expectations, as buyers scrambled to complete their purchases before a tax credit for first-time owners expires.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales rose 9.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million in September, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.1 million in August. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5.35 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
The median sales price was $174,900, down 8.5 percent from a year earlier, and slightly lower than August’s median of $177,300.
“There’s a mini-boom going on in the housing market,” said Thomas Popik, who conducts a monthly survey of real estate agents for Campbell Communications, a research firm.