It is going to be up and down for a while. We have seen some really good months recently for the resale housing market. January and February were steady and March was still a good month on the rise. Home sales rebounded in March but fell below what they were a year ago. Stats for newly constructed homes are also included in this data. April is seeing a continued increase but it looks like things are starting to level off. That just means that the market will shift between seller’s and buyer’s markets. Nationally, there were 1,172,000 privately-owned housing sales in April, a 7% increase from March’s estimate of 1,099,000, this info is per the U.S. Census and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sales were 2% below the 1,192,000 rate of April 2015.
Whenever we talk about home sales, it is always good to talk about new construction. Not just new construction on homes, which is very relevant, but new construction on commercial properties also. The growth of business and industry are a major factor in the growth of the local housing and construction economy as a whole. The best way to measure that growth is to see how many building permits were issued. Nationally, 1,116,000 building permits were issued in April, 4% above March but 5% below April 2015. In the metropolitan areas of the Inland Empire, 2,433 just new privately owned houses were authorized between January and March, the most recent month figures are available, again from the U.S. Census.
I have talked about this in the past, new construction can be a good purchase as long as you still use an agent. Most new construction builders will pay the agent a co-op. This ensures that the buyer is not being taken for a ride or being tricked into selecting options they may not need. It also can give them options when it comes to lenders and service-providers. Purchasing a new-construction home is different from buying a resale home in some ways. A Realtor can offer tips and items to keep in mind if you have are interested in purchasing new construction. Purchasing new construction is usually more complicated and intimidating than buying a resale home. It is important with a new-home purchase that a buyer use a Realtor to represent them in this process. If the seller is against this, it is usually for less-than-honest reasons like back-ended deals between the seller, contractor, and hired sales representative. Your Realtor should be a local expert and have experience with newly constructed homes. Builder contracts and the building process is different from what most real estate agents deal with on a daily basis, so having new construction experience is important.
You should also plan your home-buying around the time of year and your personal needs, this includes your unique timing which varies based on family size, schools, and your career. You should know that new construction is big business and a lot of the national builders are publicly traded companies. They need to meet sales goals and answer to the shareholders of that company. For that reason, toward the end of a quarter, builders tend to be more aggressive with their incentives in order to meet these sales goals. The December holiday season is another great time to buy. Most of the country is out shopping and traveling to see family. Very few people shop for homes this time of the year. For that reason, it is a great time to find some great incentives to purchase a new home. In conclusion, you should talk to your Realtor about what your best options are, it usually depends on what you want out of a home and if a resale home can provide that.