May Housing Market

There is good news and bad news on the housing front...depending on where you live.

Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors released statistics for homes sales in May...as I mentioned, there is good news and bad.

First the bad news...
According to the NAR "resale" of US condominiums and homes dropped 2.2% nationwide last month. And if that is not bad enough, check this out... The sale of “new homes” decreased nationwide by a whopping 32.7%. This decrease brought the number of new home sales down to 300,00 for the month, the lowest number of sales since 1963 when the US Commerce Department first started keeping real estate numbers. This huge decrease in sales surprised even the experts.
What makes these figures so alarming is they are the first reflection of the market without the benefit of the Federal Tax Credit.

OK, now the good news.
Massachusetts is running counter to the nationwide trend. Yes, in Massachusetts the number of sales increased in May as did the median price of a home. According to the National Association of Realtors the sale of single-family homes in May 2010 compared to May 2009 jumped by 36.8% in Massachusetts compared to a national decrease. And the median price for homes during this time frame also increased by 2.6% to $290,000.

Most experts feel the July statistics will be a better indicator of the health of the US real estate market than May...of course, that won’t be the case if the Federal Tax benefit is extended.