Note the previous post about the precipitous drop in New home sales and housing starts. Well, just the opposite happened with the existing home sales – resales are on the rise.
And, existing home sales are rising quite well:
As you can see, there has been a very nice pick up in home sales compared to this point last year. Now, a lot of that has to do with the $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers; but anecdotally there is a nice pick up of move-up buyer home sales as well. And, with the recent introduction of the $6500 tax credit for move-up buyers, that trend should continue as well.
While more homes are moving, prices are dropping in general. Or, perhaps the opposite is true, that because home prices are so far down, buyers are beginning to come out and explore their options.
Does all of this point to a housing rebound? Too early to tell if Atlanta will move from a buyer’s market back to a seller’s market in the near future. A LOT of that will depend on the movement of mortgage interest rates. And rates are pointing upward, although probably not until late Spring.
So, if you are in the market for a home, my best guess currently is that you should act on that and lock in a rate prior to April, 2010.
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