Housing Review

For this weeks blog, i will be doing, "Review of the economy in general. What is happening and why". Home sales surged for the second month in a row in October, climbing to the highest level in 2½ years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit. Home sales % jumped up 10.1% since October. First time home owners, were able to claim a 8,000 tax credit making it a lot more easy to purchase a home. People who have owned their current homes for at least five years can now claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 for a home purchase. This huge surge in home purchasing is majorly messing up the "7 month" home supply on the market and is sending community's into bidding wars. This was all caused by the govt trying to counter that trend by offering a tax incentive for first-time buyers and by keeping mortgage rates around 5% since the spring. Home sales are likely to drop over the winter as buyers hibernate for a few months without the looming tax credit deadline.