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The NAR - National Association of Realtors - announced the pending home sales show an uptrend for the past four consecutive months.  They attribute favorable housing affordability and 1st time buyer tax credits as boosting the latest survey.  The June Pending Homes Sales Index increased 0.1% to 90.7%.   The last time there were four consecutive monthly gains was in October 2004.    Closed existing-home sales are improving but they are coming in lower than expected because of delayed closings or falling through due to financing qualifications or road blocks with the new appraisal rules in place.   According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, “Rises in contract activity show buyers are becoming more active even as they face much more stringent loan underwriting standards.  Speedy clarification of the appraisal rules could smooth a housing market recovery and support the overall economy”.

This is a great post taken from Atlanta Real Estate Forum that I wanted to share with all of you!

I know that the economy is all you have been hearing about, especially in terms of the real estate market recovery. It might be overwhelming, but a Forbes panel of experts in the field gathered recently to discuss the future and I thought you might be interested in what they have to say.

The panel included Donald Trump, Jr., the CEO of Trulia.com and two New York-based analysts. They all seemed to agree on one thing - the future is uncertain, however the signs indicate that the recovery we’ve been hoping for is on its way.

One of the most important topics they discussed was capitulation (which means to surrender or give up…I had to look it up too!). In this arena, capitulation refers to sellers reducing prices or waiting to sell. We are seeing more incentives being offered and price reductions in the new home market. In this case, price reductions can help and be beneficial to both buyer and seller.

All the panelists are hopeful for the future. They say that capitulation is good for the market and home values will continue to rise. They encourage those who can afford a home to buy now while the market is down (if they are planning to stay for more than five years).  Especially in the new home market, prices will only increase as the market makes its way back up.

So the moral of the story is that now is a great time to invest in a home, especially a new build home. Prices are down, low interest rates are plentiful and now is the time. If you don’t believe me, just ask Donald Trump, Jr.!

Some happy news I saw on AtlantaRealEstateForum.com

We’ve all heard reports that the real estate industry as a whole is suffering, but it’s so important to understand that real estate markets are not national, they are all local. And, we can safely say that Atlanta is in a much better position than most of the county. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that, while existing home prices continue to fall across the United States, the rate of decline in Atlanta is significantly slower than the national average.

The report comes from the S&P Case-Shiller index that was recently released. Although the report showed the average price of metro Atlanta homes as dropping between the months of March and April, the numbers were not adjusted to account for seasonal changes that can affect the strength of the market.

Atlanta’s housing market has always been in a better position than those of Phoenix and southern Florida, as well as other national markets, because of the large amount of building in metro Atlanta. The surge of building helped to keep housing prices down which kept Atlanta from becoming a ‘bubble market’.

The AJC reports that some areas in Atlanta have seen some price drops, however some have actually seen some modest increase. Overall though, the Atlanta housing market peaked in 2007 and has been slowly declining since then. Yet economist have hope that metro prices can rise again, the market just has to sell the current pool of unsold homes first.

Since the housing prices have not drastically decreased in the metro area, it means we do not have nearly has much to climb as the market turns. The Atlanta real estate industry is in a great position to rebound quickly from the current state of the economy.

We’ve all heard reports that the real estate industry as a whole is suffering, but it’s so important to understand that real estate markets are not national, they are all local. And, we can safely say that Atlanta is in a much better position than most of the county. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that, while existing home prices continue to fall across the United States, the rate of decline in Atlanta is significantly slower than the national average.

The report comes from the S&P Case-Shiller index that was recently released. Although the report showed the average price of metro Atlanta homes as dropping between the months of March and April, the numbers were not adjusted to account for seasonal changes that can affect the strength of the market.

Atlanta’s housing market has always been in a better position than those of Phoenix and southern Florida, as well as other national markets, because of the large amount of building in metro Atlanta. The surge of building helped to keep housing prices down which kept Atlanta from becoming a ‘bubble market’.

The AJC reports that some areas in Atlanta have seen some price drops, however some have actually seen some modest increase. Overall though, the Atlanta housing market peaked in 2007 and has been slowly declining since then. Yet economist have hope that metro prices can rise again, the market just has to sell the current pool of unsold homes first.

Since the housing prices have not drastically decreased in the metro area, it means we do not have nearly has much to climb as the market turns. The Atlanta real estate industry is in a great position to rebound quickly from the current state of the economy.