On a national level home sales this year are on pace to outperform 2010, even though last year was bolstered by the artificial homebuyer tax credit. Driving much of this increase is an improvement in the general economy and slow but steady job growth. While a considerable number of people are still unemployed and not all businesses are thriving, there have been steady improvements in these areas which have helped the housing market pick up sales. Monthly job growth has been a bit over 100,000 positions recently, but the huge number of jobs lost previously will take awhile to come back and recent college graduates also filter into the pipeline of job seekers.
Affordability is probably the single biggest driving influence right now in home sales rebounding. NAR’s affordability index is at a record high of 170. This means that households earning the national median income have 170% of the income needed to buy a home at the national median price point. Clearly local market conditions may be different across the country with some cities having more affordability than this and others less. Once lenders return to pre-boom “normal” standards sales may also see an additional increase. Mortgage money remains tight with good to great credit being required by most lending institutions and the resulting performance of those loans has been phenomenal.
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