Basically, the federal home buyer tax credit program is over. Oh, there are still those hapless buyers stuck in some delayed short sales who will still get the credit if they can manage to close by September 30th and signed a contract before April 30th, but there is no stimulus left in the market place. Except for low mortgage rates. The bulk of the business in the mortgage market seems to be for refinances, though, and not for home purchases.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, low mortgage rates aren't making up for the loss of the home buyer tax credit. Homes sales are still down. It quotes the National Association of Realtors as saying the real estate market needs to stand on its two feet, and I agree with that assessment. We can't rely on mortgage rates to generate a new buzz, either. But it doesn't hurt that rates have dipped to all-time low. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate conforming loan dipped below 4.5% last week. That's pretty darn sweet.
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At the time of writing, Elizabeth Weintraub, DRE # 00697006, is a Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate in Sacramento, California.
Comments
As a 1st time home buyer, I can admit I was much more motivated to buy during the home buyer credit. Unfortunately without the credit and more and more of my friends selling to downsize or short-selling, it really can be a turn off to buy even with low rates.
However, with a young family we know we’ll buy soon. But we are much more conservative in our approach and quite a bit disappointed we were not ready when the home buyer credit was available.