April - The End of the Real Estate Bailout?
Home buyers and sellers are constantly calling me over the past couple of weeks asking the trillion dollar question. Will the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax credit and 6,500 as long as they have owned there home for at least 5 years be extended past April 30, 2010?
As of today, there are NO plans to extend these programs. Here in the Triangle area where I sell, my listings have picked up tremendously in the last two weeks. My buyers are also trying to hurry and take advantage of these incentives before they are gone and rates go up. The rates have been steadily climbing since January. The WSJ commented back in early January "Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have risen by a quarter of a percentage point in the past month to around 5.2%, according to HSH Associates, near their highest levels since September as the bond market has pushed up long-term interest rates amid signs of an improving economy."
On top of that federal government will stop buying mortgage backed securities at the end of March. In the past year it has purchased 73% of the mortgages that government-backed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have turned into securities. Purchases by the Treasury pushed total government purchases above $1 trillion as stated in WSJ.
This is definitely a scary thought as we are on shaky ground. The market here in central NC has definitely been more stable than the rest of the country, but it still worries me that my buyers will not be able to qualify or even want to if the rates rise. The next few months will be a critical indicator to whether or not we are finally turning the economy around. I know I will be watching...
As of today, there are NO plans to extend these programs. Here in the Triangle area where I sell, my listings have picked up tremendously in the last two weeks. My buyers are also trying to hurry and take advantage of these incentives before they are gone and rates go up. The rates have been steadily climbing since January. The WSJ commented back in early January "Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have risen by a quarter of a percentage point in the past month to around 5.2%, according to HSH Associates, near their highest levels since September as the bond market has pushed up long-term interest rates amid signs of an improving economy."
On top of that federal government will stop buying mortgage backed securities at the end of March. In the past year it has purchased 73% of the mortgages that government-backed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have turned into securities. Purchases by the Treasury pushed total government purchases above $1 trillion as stated in WSJ.
This is definitely a scary thought as we are on shaky ground. The market here in central NC has definitely been more stable than the rest of the country, but it still worries me that my buyers will not be able to qualify or even want to if the rates rise. The next few months will be a critical indicator to whether or not we are finally turning the economy around. I know I will be watching...
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