The National Association of Realtors’ has announced that they have seen more and more buyers returning to the housing market to take advantage of the great selection of inventory available at record prices. This is something which has been backed up by the local Ann Arbor Realtors Association who publishes monthly reports on local housing data. They stated that in April 2009 there was an increase of 13.5% in the number of sales. “There has never been a better time to buy…Housing affordability is at an all-time high, mortgage rates are historically low, and interest rates are the lowest they’ve been since the days of Eisenhower” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. Historically high housing affordability and low mortgage interest rates, combined with buyer opportunities in the distressed sales market, have increased home sales in many areas of the country. Sales have been driven by an upswing in the market out west. In the proud state of California for instance, home sales are rising much faster than anticipated; some areas in the state are seeing a 70 to 80% increase in sales. This could in part be attributed, not just to market conditions, but due to the Federal Housing Administration permitting its lenders to allow qualified home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment as opposed to having them wait for the check to come from the IRS. In fact, many first-time buyers are attracted to deeply discounted and distressed home prices. Nationally, about 50% of all recent transactions have been distressed sales. 15-20% have been short sales and 30-35% have been foreclosures. Lawrence Yun went on to comment that his projection for the real estate market was the following: “home sales will be 10 to 20 percent higher the second half of this year than last year and we will come out of this recession in 2010.”

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