Slight Increase in Sales at the Years End......

There was a slight increase of new single dwelling home sales as the year came to an end in 2010 as reported by the Federal Reserve and Commerce Department. The month of November came in around 280,000 in sales and for the month of December sales increased to 329,000 in sales which is a 17.5% increase. Small but however significantly noticeable. Home prices suffered a decline in the month of November and the trend continued through the end of the year.  While home prices had begun to see an increase in the second half of 2009 and first half of 2010, the change in the direction of prices declining raise a bit of a worry for the seller's market in the months to come. Buyer's however have an added bargaining option due to the decline in pricing trends. New housing contruction fell to its lowest in December of 2010 but the commerce department has reported that there has been an increase in permits for new construction that exceeds the past 8 months and have been steady through the month of December into January which means we could see an increase in new housing availability for the start of the new year in the US Real Estate industry. With the many ups and downs in the Real Estate industry presently some indications suggest that lenders are looking at possibly making changes to the minimum score requirements to improve chances for consumers that are below credit scores of 640 on average. So, now is the time for buyers to begin working at ironing out what ever credit issues they may have as the new year appears to offer more of a buyer's market than that of a seller's market.  Seller's however, do need to concentrate on the best home presentation possible keeping in mind that any improvements to thier home should be measured carefully by the median sale prices in thier area to stay within the price ranges that are successfully being sold. Good luck both to seller's and buyer's this year!! Find your favorite Realtor and meet with your preferred lender to begin your planning.