By Daniel Powell
In an economy when many are being tighter with their money, home sales have surprisingly gone up throughout many parts of the nation. Home sales in California are up 42.5% in February compared to last years numbers. A report shows that 29,225 new and resale houses and condiminiums were sold in California last month. The average price paid was consistent with that of January at $373,000. Due to all the foreclosures and the lowering prices of homes, bargain hunters have been out in force and buying up everything they can while they are cheap.
Across the nation, existing home sales have posted a 5.1% gain which comes as a surprise to many. As stated earlier, people not only in California but across the nation are taking advantage of the deep discounts on mainly foreclosures and other distressed properties. While many are being, prices are stille xpected to fall well into the year. This is due to the fact that many homes are still tied up in the foreclosure process and aren't for sale yet. We also must remain that people are still losing jobs due to the current recession. Nicolas Retsinas of Harvard University said the key word to the housing market is jobs. If you are likely to have a continious job you may be buying but for those who are worried about having a job tomorrow are sitting on the sidelines.
It is important to remember that the main reason that sales are going up is due to the break in prices. The median price for an existing home fell by a whopping 15.5% last month to $165,400. As a basic economic rule, when supply is high and there is not a lot of demand, the prices are going to follow a downward trend. It is also a good time to buy for those with the proper credit and income because Freddie Mac shows the average 30-year mortgage rate at 5.13% in February, up slightly from 5.05% in January. However, even though rates are low, many people cannot take advantage of these rates because since December 2007, the economy has shed 4.4 million jobs, including a huge 651,000 last month.
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