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Tax credit has Realtors' phones ringing as deadline looms

Real estate agents say their phones are ringing a lot more in recent weeks as folks scurry to sell and or buy homes before next month's tax credit deadline. To qualify for the credit, buyers must have fully executed sales contracts in place by April 30 and the deal must close by June 30. First-time home buyers are eligible for up to $8,000. Buyers who have owned a home for five consecutive years within the past eight years can get a credit of up to $6,500. Tampa Bay area sales prices have plummeted more than 40 percent since the peak of the housing boom. Home sales in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater rose 28 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, and the median sales price hit $138,800. That's down 42 percent since prices peaked at $239,600 in June 2006.

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Mortgage Rates to Stay Low, Goldman Predicts

Investment bank Goldman Sachs recently predicted that mortgage rates won’t rise much when the Federal Reserve ends its purchases of mortgage-backed securities at the end of March. Part of the reason is that demand for mortgages is low, says Goldman analyst Sven Jari Stehn. What would drive up mortgage rates, he says, is a decision by the Fed to sell the mortgage backs it holds, but that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, he believes.

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The Future of Home-Price Appreciation

After its historic decline brought the global economy to its knees, the U.S. housing market is gearing up for a long-awaited recovery. Real estate experts expect home prices to hit bottom in late 2010 or early 2011 before--finally!--heading north again. But what shape will the rebound take? Are we in for another boom? Or will we have to settle for sluggish growth? Here's the outlook for home price appreciation through 2020.

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Foreclosed Borrowers May Get Loans Again

Will people who currently face foreclosure or short sales or who walk away from their underwater properties ever be able to get financing to buy another home down the road? Banks haven’t been very forthcoming on this issue. However, knowledgeable observers of the situation say that while it may take some time, the situation will right itself for most people. Because bankrupt borrowers have eliminated their debts, they should "constitute attractive fodder for mortgage lenders," says University of Michigan law professor John Pottow, whose specialty is bankruptcy. As home prices and the mortgage market stabilize, lenders will be motivated to lend to people who previously had financial troubles if they look like they can pay the next time around, says Alan Riegler, a consultant with CCG Catalyst, which advises banks.

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Low Rates Help Make Home Buying More Affordable

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.97 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 4, 2010, down from last week when it averaged 5.05 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.15 percent.

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Buyers Who Wait May Lose a Lot

Potential home buyers who delay have a lot to lose. First-time home buyer and move-up tax credits worth $8,000 and $6,500, respectively, expire April 30. Buyers who qualify get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes or a cash payment if they don’t pay enough taxes to cover the credit. Other factors that should spur buyers: Low mortgage rates. If the Federal Reserve stops buying mortgage-backed securities at the end of March, 30-year rates will almost certainly rise to more than 6 percent. Rising prices. About 30 percent of markets are already experiencing price increases. Prices are falling in 12 percent of markets, says Fiserv (but that only helps if you want to live there).

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After one-year blip, Florida's population to grow again

Florida's population should rebound this year from its first loss in more than half a century, according to new estimates from the University of Florida. The state is expected to add about 23,000 residents between April 1, 2009, and April 1, 2010, following a loss of almost 57,000 residents the previous year, UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research reported Tuesday. Last year's population drop startled a state used to steady, and sometimes explosive, growth since World War II. Researchers say that appears to have been just a one-year blip. "Based on changes in electric customer data, we believe Florida's population has increased slightly over the past year," said bureau director Stan Smith who led the research. "This may be an indication the state's economy is no longer declining at the rate it had been before."

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Move-Up Tax Credit Having Little Impact

The $6,500 move-up tax credit isn’t significant enough to have much of an impact on the housing crisis, housing experts say. The percentage of current home owners who are considering buying was unchanged from January, a traditional slow month, to February, when business is usually better, according to a poll of 1,500 real estate agents by Campbell Communications and Inside Mortgage Finance. "You've got a really big problem that requires big guns, and the tax credit is just not big enough," says Roberton Williams, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center in Washington. The credit "is hardly registering on the economic Richter scale," says Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight.

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