Friday, December 3, 2010

Potential Home Sales & Unemployment Rates

NAR just released their October Pending Home Sales Index, an index depicting the number of home purchase contracts signed in the month period. These numbers are considered to be forward indicators of existing sales since the index shows how many contracts were signed.
The index showed some interesting data. There was a positive spike since the massive drop in June with a rise of 10.4%, bringing it to 89.3% from 80.9% in September. The largest of the spikes occurred in the Midwest and Southeast, both of which had the lowest unemployment rates of the country.


NAR’s Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, said he expects home sales to keep climbing but that mortgage interest deduction is something that is very important to buyers. Yun believes any additional tax burdens will hurt the economic growth and that strict underwriting regulation is something that has been a burden on the recovery of the real estate market. Most mortgage professionals would agree but unfortunately FHFA has clearly stated that Government Sponsored Establishments won’t be budging and LLPAs will not get any cheaper any time soon. Some experts think it is a good idea to keep buyers informed on what kind of programs are available for them and what they can qualify for instead of focusing on the negative regulation restrictions as that seems to be keeping buyers from even trying to qualify for any loans.


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