 |
Whether purchasing or refinancing a home, we'll offer you sound and unbiased information.
Get national and regional topics like California's refinance market,
and calculators to evaluate your own mortgage.
|
According to data released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, the median price of single family homes in Las Vegas fell 22.7% in April, from $305,000 in April 2007 to $235,875 in April 2008. Prices haven’t been this low since February 2004, when the median price was $220,000.
It’s enough to make you burst out singing "Blue Skies". From the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist:
Two things homebuyers shouldn’t have to worry about is a recession or long-term credit crunch.
That’s what Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, told real estate practitioners who gathered at the Kennedy Boulevard headquarters of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors Wednesday.
Yun, who admits that he has to balance empirical data with a role of advocacy for the housing market, said that while the beginning of 2008 has been weak so far, the second half of the year should see an uptick that could lead to home value growth of more than 20 percent in the next five years. "I think there is enough momentum to bring the buyers back into the market," Yun said.
Sales typically taper off the second half of the year, so Yun’s "uptick" is unlikely. And about that "empirical data":
NEW YORK (AP) — An industry group said Wednesday that pending U.S. home sales dropped to a new low in March, signaling the housing slump has yet to bottom out even as the spring sell season gets under way.
The National Association of Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 83.0 from a downwardly revised February reading of 83.8, the index’s previous low. The index stood at 103.9 in March 2007.
Wall Street economists polled by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would slip to a reading of 83.8.
