Attracted by lower home prices, bargain-seekers are re-entering housing markets like the New York area.
Last week, we posted about how some home buyers are on the fence, waiting for the housing market to bottom out. Well, according to one new report, we may be closer to that bottom, according to an article on CNNMoney.com
The website reports that new data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) shows that in November, dips in home prices were larger than usual, a record 1.8% from October. For the 12 months ending Nov. 30, prices fell a record 8.7 percent, another record, CNNMoney says.
Seeing some of the biggest hits in home prices in November were North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota.
All pretty dismal news. But, there is a bright spot: "If you want to take an optimistic spin, you could say that the adjustment process has been quickening and we're that much closer to the bottom," says Mike Moran, a real estate analyst with Daiwa Securities, in the article.
Perhaps that's what's drawing some buyers out. The New York Times reports that homebuyers, encouraged by falling home prices and low interest rates, are venturing back into the Manhattan-area real estate market. These people are mostly first-time buyers who "have jobs and good credit ratings, and they are looking to buy," the Times says. Buyers are searching for "bargain-priced apartments" in primarily the under $500,000 range, but also for something under $1 million, the newspaper says. One agent quoted in the story reports that agents have seen more turnout in the past two weeks than in previous months.
"It is price, price, price," says another agent.
California''s Sacramento Bee declares that 2008 was the year that homebuyers finally got off the fence. Sacramento County actually saw closed home escrows rise 7,763 from 2007 to reach 41,030, the newspaper says. In the area, first-time buyers and investors are purchasing lower-priced distressed properties, the paper reports. The article notes that in December, existing-home sales numbered 2,148, a high for that month since 2004, and the county's median sales price fell to $176,000, the lowest since May 2001.
Readers: Does it look like a bottom may be near? What's the outlook in your local housing market?—Lauren Baier Kim