Agent Profile
Tony and Libby Kelly, MBA, M.Ed. are ranked in the top 1% of REALTORS in Portland Metro. They have been featured on HGTV's "House Hunters" 3 Episodes & "My House is Worth What?" 4 Episodes.
Home Sales Riding High
Many first-time home buyers decided to take advantage of the expiring tax credit. Add in low mortgage rates with falling prices and the home sales in October were their highest level in 2 1/2 years. As a result, home sales are 37 percent above from their bottom in January.
Now that the tax credit has been extended and expanded to include more than just first-timers, the housing market is expected to be sustained next year.
The economy as a whole will benefit only slightly from higher home sales due to weak home construction, rising foreclosures and slow job creation.
The government is trying to keep mortgage rates around 5% and they are extending the tax credit for buyers. The idea is to counter-act the still falling home prices due to foreclosure after foreclosure being put on the market.
The October report of home sales reflects the offers made previous to the tax credit extension. This shows that the credit really did it’s job. Sales traditionally drop during the winter but the extended credit could mean great things for home sales in spring!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34105403/ns/business-real_estate/
PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE http//:www.TonyandLibby.com
Portland Oregon Market Report
October Residential Highlights
Sales activity in the Portland metro area continued an upward trend compared to same-month sales from a year ago. Pending sales were up 64% compared to October 2008 and closed sales rose 37.1%. New listings dropped 4.5%. The 64% jump in pending sales is the largest same-month increase since February 1996. The 2,009 closed sales this October was the highest total since August 2007 and its 37.1% same-month increase is the largest since January 2005. Compared to September 2009, closed sales increased 11.6% (2,009 v. 1,800), but pending sales dropped 9.1% (2,079 v. 2,286). New listings also fell 4.3% (3,443 v. 3,599). At the month’s rate of sales, it would take approximately 6.5 months to sell the 13,101 active residential listings. This is the lowest mark for inventory since August 2007.
Year-to-Date
Comparing January-October 2009 with the same period in 2008, pending sales are up 1.8%. Closed sales are behind last year’s total by 8.8%. New listings are down 20.5%.
Sale Prices
The average sale price for October 2009 was down 12.6% compared to October 2008, while the median sale price declined 10.9%. Month-to-month, the average and median sale price were mixed when compared with September levels; the average sale price was down
2.3% ($283,500 v. $290,100) and the median sale price increased 1.5% ($245,000 v. $241,400).
Budgeting Issues
Oregon has just been named as one of 10 U.S. states at greatest peril of following California over a state budgetary cliff.
The national economy has begun to rebound but Oregon is likely to have a harder time. Unemployment is expected to remain high, which leads to lower tax revenues, which makes coming up with enough money to pay for schools and other public services difficult.
On top of high unemployment rates voter mandates that include long sentences for repeat criminal offenders mean some budget cuts are off limits.
California drew national attention to the risk that states would go broke when it had to issue IOUs to contractors and taxpayers this year because it simply could not pay for essential state services. So now other states are being studied to see if similar issues are surfacing around the country.
There are some options that Oregon voters have to counteract this possible catastrophe. They could give lawmakers more leeway in the spending and taxing decisions. Most importantly they could reverse the mandatory kicker rebate that Oregonians get when there is left over money, this prevents the state from acquiring any reserves for a rainy day.
These options are long term solutions though and some tough choices need to be made to save us in the next year or two.
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/oregon_among_10_states_at_grea.html
PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE http//:www.TonyandLibby.com
Bottoming Out?
The majority of U.S. cities experienced an upswing in the median price of single-family homes sold during the three months that ended Sept. 30th. This is the second consecutive quarter of gains. Nation wide the median home price went up $7,000 from the previous quarter.
The number of homes on the market has started to decrease indicating that we are closer to price stabilization. The concern is maintaining a steady number of buyers who are employed and therefore qualified to buy a home.
Much of the recent increase in home prices has been attributed to the government’s first-time homebuyer tax credit. Which is probably why an extension and expansion to that credit was approved recently.
The $8,000 tax credit to first time buyers was scheduled to expire on Dec. 1st. Now, not only will it be in effect through the end of June, but those who have owned and occupied a residence for the last five years (out of eight) can trade up and get a $6,500 tax credit. Homebuyers must sign a contract before April 30 and close by June 30. The income limits were also raised: Single buyers can now earn up to $125,000 and still get the full credit while a married couple can earn $225,000.
This could be as helpful, or maybe even more helpful then the previous version because so many more people will qualify.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/10/real_estate/latest_home_prices/index.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/06/real_estate/tax_credit_extended/index.htm
PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE http//:www.TonyandLibby.com
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Keller Williams Realty Portland Premiere
17700 SW Upper Boones Ferry Rd
Portland, OR 97224
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