BizNomic

The National Association Of Realtors today released their Existing Home Sales Report for December, simultaneously ripping apart the curtain of hope for a near term economic recovery. Existing home sales tumbled to 5.45 million annual rate, an abysmal fall of 16.8%, the highest, since the last 40 years. The prices registered a small annual increase (.01%) for single family homes, the first, in the past 38 months.

Housing crisis

Analysts explain, that buyers who rushed to meet the original November deadline to take advantage of a $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers caused a surge in sales earlier in the year. In fact, sales went up 28 percent in the three months to November. Congress extended the tax credit until April 30 and expanded it to more potential buyers, raising hopes  that sales will pick up again during the spring buying season. “The market is going through a period of swings driven by the tax credit,” NAR economist Lawrence Yun said. “We’ll likely have another surge in the spring as home buyers take advantage of the extended and expanded tax credit.” (more…)