February 2009

Stimulus Package and Lower Interest Rates Expected to Spur 900,000 Additional Home Sales

TheHomeCart.com

Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 7:45pm. 209 Views, 0 Comments.

The National Association of Realtors® estimates the impact of the economic stimulus package and lower interest rates to be 900,000 additional home sales. By year end, inventory is expected to fall below an 8-month supply.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, forecasts that the housing market will soon get a lift from favorable buying conditions, among them:

• Improved affordability
• The lowest mortgage rates in 50 years
• $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers
• Higher conforming loan limits.

Improvement from the economic stimulus package isn’t likely to show up in housing data as closed home sales before summer, Yun adds. This is a factor of the buying and reporting process, which can take as long as five months.

The NAR also reported that…

Average Price of Denver Homes Fell Less in 2008 Than Other Major Cities

TheHomeCart.com

Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 7:44pm. 175 Views, 0 Comments.

Prices of existing homes in the Denver area declined less through 2008 than in any of 20 major U.S. cities, Standard and Poor recently reported. The monthly S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices said Denver’s average existing-home price from December 2007 to December 2008 fell 4 percent compared to the average decline 18.5 percent in the other 19 cities.

Dallas had the second smallest year-to-year decline at 4.3 percent. Las Vegas (33 percent) and Phoenix (34 percent) had the greatest price declines.

The S&P report also tracks how much home prices have gone up or down since January 2000, which has a price index of 100. In December 2007, Denver had a home-price index of 125.74, which means homes price have increased 25.74 percent since January 2000.…

Denver Tops The List Of Desirable Places

Brian Kinkade

Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 8:17pm. 290 Views, 2 Comments.

According to CNN, the Pew Research Center recently reported that nearly half of Americans would like to live someplace else. Denver tops the list of places that many people would like to move.

Some of the reasons reported are Denver's low humidity, eight professional sports teams and proximity to the Rocky Mountains. Additional considerations in my opinion are Denver's 300 +/- days of sunshine and overall high quality of living.