Howard Hanna Myers

Keith D Myers Broker Manager and Real Estate Consultant shares his insights on the local real estate market

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The Community's Choice
" Howard Hanna Myers All Star Team "

Wednesday February 4 2009

State of The Market

by Keith D Myers

I have reviewed the current real estate market trends in Fayette County and the surrounding areas , in looking at the Fayette MLS data and compared the period of January 2007 to December 2007 and also the same period of January 2008 to December 2008 I have found that 17.79 percent less homes sold in 2008 compared to 2007 with a total market value difference of $ 22,766,184. Despite this large figure our local real estate market has faired reasonably well compared to other parts of the country. Southwestern Pennsylvania, and especially the Fayette County area, is still a great place for home ownership and real estate investment. Nationally existing-home sales have shown gains in December 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors^®. Existing-home sales – including single-family, condominiums, townhomes and co-ops – jumped 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.74 million units in December from a downwardly pace of 4.45 million units in November, but are 3.5 percent below the 4.91 million-unit pace in December 2007. For all of 2008 there were 4,912,000 existing-home sales, which was 13.1 percent below the 5,652,000 transactions recorded in 2007. This is the lowest volume since 1997 when there were 4,371,000 sales. It’s an excellent time for the first-time home buyer with a good job. “With historically low mortgage interest rates, a large inventory and homes that are selling for less than replacement construction costs in much of the country, buyers who’ve been on the fence should take a closer look at today’s market.” First-time buyers may want to consider an FHA loan, which offers down payments of 3.5 percent on a safe 30-year fixed-rate mortgage," According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 5.29 percent in December from 6.09 percent in November; the rate was 6.10 percent in December 2007. Last week, Freddie Mac reported the 30-year rate was 5.12 percent.