Basking Ridge & US Home Sales Rise

Basking Ridge Home Sales rose for the month of April to 24 units - even exceeding last years unit count of 22. Nationwide, "existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – increased 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.68 million units in April from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million units in March, but were 3.5 percent below the 4.85 million-unit level in April 2008," according to The National Association of Realtors.

First time home buyers continue to influence the market with the lower end of the market showing improving strength and mid-level starting to improve. The high-end market remains sluggish, weighed down by higher interest rates on Jumbo loans, lack of liquidity on the secondary market, and tighter credit requirements.

More good new on the horizon is that "number of buyers looking at homes has increased 14 percentage points from a year ago. “This is consistent with our forecast for home sales in the latter part of the year to be 10 to 20 percent higher than the second half of 2008,” Lawrence Yun said." Further, stats show that there were more repeat buyers entering the market during the traditional "spring market."