Wednesday, May 05, 2010

CHICAGOLAND CONTRACT CONTINUE!

Since the middle of 2009, home buyers have had the opportunity to take advantage of a $8,000 tax credit for new home-buyers, and a $6,500 tax credit for move-up buyers.  This, combined with very favorable interest rates have lead to a dramatic increase in the volume of sales, helping to tackle the inventory that built up since 2006 in our market area.


One of the biggest concerns I have heard amongst my friends in real estate is "What is going to happen after the tax credit expires on April 30th?"  We have all said, "we will have to wait and see what happens."


If the activity over the past 5 days is any indication, we have some great news to report in the Chicagoland marketplace.


According to the MRED, LLC multiple listing service, as of 1:30 p.m. on May 5, 2010, there are 362 attached homes that have a contract written since 5/1/2010 (attached homes include condos, townhomes, co-ops, and duplexes).  And there has been 636 detached homes that have had a contract written since 5/1/2010. 


That totals 998 new residential contracts since 5/1/2010, or since our tax credit expired on 4/30/2010.


This is great news - our real estate market, while it has a long way to go, continues to show improvement.


CHIP WAGNER, SRA, SCRP
President, A.L. Wagner Appraisal Group, Inc
chip@wagnerappraisal.com