It appears that the First Time Homebuyer tax credit was effective at generating home sales. According to the Association of Realtors, first-time home buyers were responsible for 47% of all home sales during the past year vs. 41% the previous year. Hopefully the extension of the tax credit will continue to motivate first time home buyers to continue purchasing homes.
According to Zillow’s real estate third quarter market reports, only 21% of single-family homes nationwide had negative equity vs. 23% in the second quarter. Sadly, the improvement was greatly due to a large number of homes being lost to foreclosure, thus wiping out the negative equity in the home.
Nationwide, foreclosures accounted for 21% of all home sales in September. However, we have had some areas in California hit much harder then the average. Areas such as:
- Merced - 74%
- Stockton - 69%
- Madera - 69%
The Peninsula is what Zillow calls the San Francisco metro area. In this region, foreclosures account for 36% of all single family home sales. While that’s only about half of some of the hardest hit areas in the State, it is still about 50% higher then the national average. However, we are trending in a positive direction since back in March 2009, foreclosures accounted for 54% of single family home sales in our region.
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