Year End Numbers Will Tell The Real Story

The latest housing numbers seem to tell a mixed story consistent with the bumpy road to recovery we are on. In spite of continued record low mortgage rates, fears of unemployment are keeping many people on the sidelines. People secure in their job situation are waiting for the right property, and well priced quality listings are getting snapped up quickly as overpriced listings languish on the market. The latest NAR sales survey shows second quarter price gains in two thirds of the metro areas surveyed. In the Northeast home prices fell 3.2% to $238,000, but existing-home sales jumped 14.9 %, which was 23.6 % above 2009. In Rhode Island, foreclosures accounted for 25.2% of sales in July ranking us 36^th in the nation, but July notices increased 15.6% over June. Nationally, July notices were down 9.7 % from 2009 but up 3.6% from June. Declines in new default notices, down year-over-year for the sixth-straight month in July, do not  offset   near-record increases of bank repos.   This week's Real Estate Insight: The end of the tax credit and the increased sales it had  affected   has coincided with the normal summer real estate doldrums, so naturally the next few months' numbers will look less robust. A rebound is possible in the balance of the year, with continued job growth, record low mortgage rates, and improving demographics, but marked improvement will not likely happen until 2011.