Home sales third best ever!
Where has this year gone? It seems to have rushed by. And what
has happened in real estate this year? According to the National
Association of Realtors (NAR) sales volumes and prices have
finished correcting in 2006.
Home sales third best ever!
Where has this year gone? It seems to have rushed by. And what has happened in real estate this year? According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) sales volumes and prices have finished correcting in 2006.
David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist says, “Home sellers are becoming realistic about current market conditions and are now offering more competitive pricing, in addition to some incentives or concessions – especially to help first-time buyers. We now have the most favorable market for home buyers in several years, and most sellers – who’ve been in their home for a normal period of homeownership – are still seeing very healthy returns on their investment. Conditions for buyers have improved because sellers are flexible now and mortgage interest rates are near historic lows. The market promises to be more balanced between buyers and sellers by early spring, supporting future price growth.”
Existing-home sales, expected to fall 8.6 percent to 6.47 million this year the third-best performance on record – are projected to be essentially even in 2007 with a 0.6 percent decline to 6.43 million. Now mind you, 2006 sales are still the third best performance EVER. So even with a decline, the housing market will remain robust. Especially in California, we like to move around a lot!
Okay, so sales volumes will be good in 2007. But what about prices? Let’s see what Mr. Lereah has to say about that. “Given the huge gains in home values during the housing boom, and this year’s rise in housing inventory, overall price gains this year and next will be modest.” (I could have told you that!) The national median home price is predicted to increase 1.9 percent for all of 2006 to $223,700, then another 1.7 percent in 2007 to $227,500. Now all we need to do is have the rest of the country send us some of those $227,500 homes our way.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is projected to average 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter, and then rise to 6.6 percent by next spring. Whoa, doggies! This is still a great rate. I think my first mortgage was about 7.8 percent and I thought it was great at the time. I was not a Realtor at the time of the double-digit mortgages, but the nation persevered through that as well. We Americans are masters at coping with problems, we just don’t seem to have the knack for planning to avoid them.
According to NAR, the unemployment rate for 2006 is likely to average 4.6 percent, edging-up to 4.7 percent next year. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is forecast at 3.4 percent this year and 2.3 percent in 2007. Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product is expected to be 3.3 percent in 2006 and 2.7 percent next year. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income should grow 3.3 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2007. Consumer confidence is on the rise right now.
These are all things for which to be thankful. And as Konrad von Gesner said, “Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving and for every breath a song.”
So what are you doing this Thanksgiving? Are you cooking a turkey at home, helping to cook turkeys for others at the community dinner started by the late Marley Holte? Or will you be joining the masses traveling to see loved ones far afield? My family will be cooking dinner at home in our kitchen which once again we have failed to remodel during the year.
We will be eating at the table I inherited from my mother that graced her childhood home. It sits upon a decrepit wood floor that also failed to be replaced this year. I still haven’t gotten around to the window coverings, either. Hmmm….we see a pattern here.
Yet Thanksgiving Day in my home isn’t about the property. We are grateful to have a roof over our head (though the bank owns the lion’s share of it). We are grateful for food on our plates (I believe we own those). I’m grateful for a husband who loves to cook and a grandson, Eli, who still thinks it’s fun to get up very early to stuff the turkey and get it in the oven in time for a mid-day meal. I’m grateful for having my wonderful daughter home.
Our walls need painting and the carpet, well…let’s just say the previous owners thought white Berber carpet was a good idea out in the country and it wasn’t. But who cares? Our home will be rich with laughter and love, creating memories to last down the years. Memories don’t wear out the way new finishes and furnishings do.
Melody Beattie put it splendidly, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Have a blessed Thanksgiving, and be kind to your Realtor!
