September 2009 Semi-Monthly News-Part 1
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Semi-Monthly News
Pending Sales Surge In West
Part 1 | September 2009
In this
Issue:
page 2
Legal Corner
page 3
September Birthdays &
RE/MAX Anniversaries
page 4
Mortgage Video Update
Helpful TIPS
page 5
Up-Coming Events
Pending home...
[More]
Semi-Monthly News
Pending Sales Surge In West
Part 1 | September 2009
In this
Issue:
page 2
Legal Corner
page 3
September Birthdays &
RE/MAX Anniversaries
page 4
Mortgage Video Update
Helpful TIPS
page 5
Up-Coming Events
Pending home sales rose 3.
2 percent from June
to July, with a surge in sales in the western U.
S.
outweighing declines in the Northeast and Midwest,
the National Association of Realtors said today.
It was the sixth consecutive monthly increase
in pending home sales, a trend that NAR Chief
Economist Lawrence Yun expects to continue before
falling off in the first quarter of 2010 if a tax credit for
first-time homebuyers is allowed to expire Nov.
30.
NAR’s pending home sales index increased 3.
2
percent from June to July and was up 12 percent
from a year ago, NAR said.
The index, based on
contracts signed but not closed, is at the highest
level since June 2007.
Pending home sales were up 12.
1 percent from June
to July in the West and 3.
1 percent in the South, but
fell 3 percent in the Northeast and 2 percent in the
Midwest regions.
All four regions saw a year-overyear increase in pending home sales, led by the West
(20 percent) and followed by the South (12 percent),
Midwest (8.
1 percent) and Northeast (4.
7 percent).
Yun said housing affordability has been at record
highs this year, and that the added stimulus of an
$8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit has generated
about 350,000 additional sales.
Although 1.
8 million to 2 million homebuyers are
expected to take advantage of the credit, NAR is
urging Congress to extend it into 2010 and make it
available to all buyers.
“Unless the tax credit is extended, no one should be
surprised to see home sales drop in the first quarter of
next year,” Yun said in a press release.
With housing
market fundamentals and the economy picking up,
NAR expects home sales to pick up again in the
second quarter of 2010, Yun said.
Billspendinginbothhouseswouldextendthecreditfor
another year.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman
Sen.
Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
, is co-sponsoring a bill by
Sen.
Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.
, that would increase the
maximum amount of the credit to $15,000.
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