Home sales across the country up a huge 45.7% at 6.54 million compared to 4.49 million in November of 2008. Not only were the home sale numbers up substantially beyond numbers seen last year they were also up considerably from last month. Posting a gain of 7.4% when compared to October 2009. The most optimistic estimates that I saw suggested a 3.5% increase between October 2009 and November 2009. I would say the majority of the reported increase can be attributed to first time home buyers trying to make sure they closed in time to receive the $8,000 tax credit that was set to expire November 30th, but was recently extended to April of 2010.
Locally here in the Houston area our numbers were up big from last year as well posting 32.8% for the Houston-Sugarland-Baytown-Galveston MSA. Although our numbers fell short of the national numbers it should be noted our sales totals did not fall nearly as far as those in most areas of the country. Most reporting agencies, Houston real estate professionals and even I downplayed the spike we saw in November saying that Ike had likely impacted them, however, looking at the national numbers our November 2008 numbers may not have been as heavily affected by Ike as they were by our market place joining the rest of the country in recession. Despite this injection of positive news I still expect that December will post less rosy totals for Houston market place. If you would like to read more about the U.S. housing numbers click here for the CNN Money story.
If you have any questions or need assistance in purchasing or selling a home feel free to contact James Wheelock by phone at 281-979-0793 or shoot me a line via email at james.wheelock@ERA.com.
January 6th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Good update, thank you. Is your December projection based on November pending sales or some other data? It seems to me that there is some leveling in pricing and sales recently.
January 20th, 2010 at 1:50 am
My assumption that we would be seeing sales drop for December comes in large part from looking at pending sales for the month of November. I think changes seen in pricing are more home owners, who have had over priced homes, than it is a drop in overall housing prices.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Great idea to devote an entire blog to local market updates. I tell my real estate coaching clients to focus their blogging efforts just like this. You’re building authority here and consumers and search engines will recognize it.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:29 am
Do you think the rise was due to the tax credit getting ready to expire? With the leveling off due to the extension announced? Sales here were down a little towards the end of the year but are picking up this month.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:30 am
Thank you for the good information. I like the bright news that home sales are up. It’s very encouraging. Though a friend of mine who lives in Houston (probably the only person I know in that entire city!) just moved to New Jersey for work. I often thought Houston had a dreary job market, but perhaps I was wrong.
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:05 am
Those are impressive figures. In Spain we have a major real estate problem. We have seen a little improvement recently but not in line with the figures you quote. Hopefully December won’t be as bad as you think
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:46 am
I think the tax credit expiring had a huge impact on the number of sales posted in November, however, I expect that the current tax credit will have less impact than the two received in the past. In addition I don’t think that the tax credits are large enough to encourage someone who was not thinking of buying in the somewhat near future to make a purchase now. All we are doing is pulling buyers into the market early.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:47 am
Thanks for the Kudos. I get an opportunity to interact with many consumers thanks in large part to this blog. Many people out there are nervous and looking for good unbiased information and I try to be the one that provides it for my market.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
What type of home sales? With our site, many of the sales are attributed to REO Homes or foreclosures (or perhaps short sales). Is there a break out of homes for sale by category?
April 7th, 2010 at 3:27 am
Thanks for the information. The increase in home sales is good news, while unexpected. It could be also that many are itching to get their hands on a home since property is going up.
April 11th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Thank you for giving us a Houston based real estate blog. Keep up the home sales updates.
Also, its always good news to see home sales are starting to rise!
April 14th, 2010 at 3:24 am
Way late to be commenting, but I read the article and I’m not as surprised as other people. Granted, I might be victim of a little tunnel vision as Austin over the past year or so has been doing ok. However, I think that we’re just a little behind everyone else in that now we’re starting to see a slow down in the market over here. Nevertheless, good for you all!