Market Updates

By charpster on August 24, 2010

Posted: 8/24/2010
Columbus Board of REALTORS®
Although the first half of 2010 saw home sales increase up to 39 percent over 2009, July saw a decrease of 28.6 percent in sales.
“The expiration of the homebuyer tax credits created incredible activity last spring,” said Sue Lusk-Gleich, President of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®, “so we’re not surprised by [...]

By mhogan on July 1, 2010

The Senate approaved the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623) giving home buyers who were under contract on a home purchased by April 30th until September 30th to close and claim the tax credit. Without this extension approximately 180,000 homebuyers who had signed purchase agreements would have missed the deadline.

By mhogan on July 1, 2010

For those who wanted to take advantage of the tax credit but missed the opportunity, it may have paid to wait. Reports have shown that with fewer buyers since the expiration, sellers have had to lower their prices to entice them. Although it depends on your price point, some of the decreases in the sales [...]

By lschottenstein on June 24, 2010

Locally the real estate activity for May was up significantly, 33% over May of 2009. Certainly the tax credit program had a great deal to do with this.  The average sales price is now 5% higher then a year ago. The real issue is what this means and what will happen in the future. Last [...]

By lschottenstein on May 19, 2010

I thought this article gave an interesting prospective about longer term growth for home owners.
 
By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine
With the housing recovery still fragile, it’s hard to look ahead with anything but caution. However, the long-term prospects for the market are “incredible,” FHA Commissioner David Stevens told REALTORS® yesterday in the opening [...]

By lschottenstein on May 10, 2010

The expiration of the home buyer tax credits won’t deter optimistic households who believe the market is improving, according to a survey released last week. 
More than 90 percent of those surveyed believe the home buyer tax credits have helped both first-time buyers and the overall housing market, but 65 percent say that the end of tax credits [...]

By amurphy on April 26, 2010

In a recent analysis, the New York Times recommends that the rent ratio – the purchase price of a typical house divided by the annual rent of a similar house – shows that Columbus’ market favors buying a home over renting one.

The rent ratio for Columbus for 2009 is 16.9 and, as the Times states, “a number well below 20 makes a better case for buying.”

By charpster on April 22, 2010

It appears the market is moving in the right direction. I am interested to see what effect, if any, the expiration of the home-buyer tax credit and rising interest rates will have. I belive the housing market will continue to improve on a slow steady pace.

By charpster on March 28, 2010

These kind of reports have created a great deal of confusion for Buyers in the Columbus market. It is difficult, if not impossible, to apply appreciation / depreciation using statistics. It would be like claiming the average temperature in the United States in 52 degrees, clearly the temperature in Florida is going to be different than the temperature in Alaska. The same holds true in real estate, each market / school district / subdivision / style of home is unique and should be evaluated on an individual basis.

By charpster on March 12, 2010

I am curious to see how this impacts single family home rentals as many sellers have been forced to rent their homes in order to buy time for the market to improve.