Real Estate for 2010…. what’s going to happen

Tax Credit

Most of the professionals in the business would probably agree that although 2009 did show some signs of recovery in the housing market they certainly look forward to  new year with new hopes.  Well, there is some good news on the horizon along with some positive indicators.

I recently read a message written by NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun (Personally I have always found his analysis very reliable and I would even say that he tends to be conservative with his predicted numbers):

The end of 2009 did show higher sales compared to the rest of the year; however, Mr. Yun and other economist will say that most of this movement was due to folks running out to beat the tax credit expiration.  Now with the new deadline not threatening until mid 2010; Mr. Yun is predicting heavier activity for spring and early summer due to the tax credit expiration.

So, we have seen lowered near bottomed prices and we are still seeing historically low-interest rates and in addition we are (as buyers) enjoying high levels of inventory and motivated sellers and not to mention a great government incentive program.  It really is the best time to BUY. So what is holding this housing market back??? According to Mr. Yun the answer lies in the job market.

Unemployment is still looming at a very high rate of 10% and although there are sectors which are having job gains the reality is that the unemployment rate is still expected to climb a bit more.

Mr. Yun’s opinion and stats show that the private sector is still very hesitant to move forward with hiring new employees. Instead, company’s are placing additional pressure on their current employees to increase production and they are resorting to the temp job market.  With that said the temp job market has seen increases; hopefully signaling new permanent jobs in the future.

With all this taken into account we should certainly see a boost in the housing market provided that the job market picks up.  We have a formula for success and a recovery!

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