During the last quarter of 2012, there was an increase in the number of homes that were sold. According to the National Association of Realtors, home sales rose by over 5% in October of 2012.
Slow Real Estate Recovery
The real estate market for single family homes is slowly recovering. Home builders are starting to construct more homes. It seems that more and more buyers are actively looking to purchase homes.
Hurricane Sandy Impact
Thousands of New Yorkers who lived on the shoreline in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties had their homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Some of these homeowners have been forced to find alternate living arrangements until such time as their residences can be repaired. For a small percentage of these homeowners, their residences will never be able to be repaired. Should you rebuild your home when there is the potential that it could be wrecked again by a future hurricane?
Initially, Hurricane Sandy had a negative impact on home sales in the northeast area of the United States. Although sales of homes went down, the rental market has improved. Due to the increase of homeowners who are now homeless, the cost of renting homes or apartments has increased in most of the northeast.
Mortgage Rates
The Federal Reserve has kept mortgage rates very low for the purpose of stimulating the real estate market. These low mortgage rates are part of the motivation for prospective homeowners to buy new homes. For the past several quarters the number of homes on the market has slowly been reduced. Unfortunately, while the number of homes on the market for sale, by their owners has been decreasing, the number of homes in foreclosure has increased. These foreclosed homes are still creating a glut in the housing market.
