Rismedia reported today that pending home sales increased again in August for the seventh straight month, the longest series of increases in the history of the index. Nationally the index rose 6.4% over July, and stood at 12.4% above the August, 2008 figure.

The increase varied regionally, up 8.2% in the northeast, up 3.1% in the midwest, up only 0.8% in the south, and up 16.0% in the west. It should be noted that pending home sales do not all go to closure, especially with the market being dominated by foreclosures and short sales and the delays and complexities brought on by new rules in reaction to the recession. Also part of the increase may be due to a rush of first time buyers trying to take advantage of the $8000 federal tax credit, which expires at the end of October. Nevertheless it indicates an increase in the number of buyers in the market.

Potential buyers have only a few weeks to act before the tax credit expires, unless Congress chooses to extend the credit!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Buyers, First-Time Buyers, Homes Foreclosure, Short Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.