San Antonio is still considered a buyer's market, with the median price for a resale home during the first quarter of 2009 at $146,300. This is down 1.5% compared to a year ago, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors.
Lower mortgage interest rates and this year's beefed-up tax credit for first-time buyers seem to have spurred buyers into action this spring. The 8 months' worth of housing inventory needs to be reduced to 6 months in order to get back to a balanced market, in which the negotiation advantage is split more evenly between buyers and sellers. This assumes no new homes would be built, or at least they would be absorbed quickly and not swell the housing inventory even further.
And in fact, new home starts numbered 1,400 for the first quarter of this year, down by 40 percent from the first quarter of 2008.
A beautiful, totally remodeled home for sale in Northwood—buy it!
According to another index, using sales price information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, San Antonio ranked 28th for the best year-over-year price appreciation, at 1.68%. It may not take long to get to a balanced market after all.
Robin Rogers, Realtor, Broker-owner, ABR, TRC, CRS
Also Cat Owner, Photographer, Smartass, Aspiring World-Class Drummer
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Robin
San Antonio is still in great shape compared to the majority of the country. We saw a downturn in April here. Things are "brisk" as they say, for now but it usually is in June.