The $8,000 tax credit has helped fuel a surge in home sales, nationally and locally. Closed sales of single-family homes in King County were up 14.3 percent in September from the same month last year, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported recently.
It was the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
But the tax credit is scheduled to expire Nov. 30. After that, some observers say, home sales could drop again, just as auto sales plummeted after the federal "cash-for-clunkers" program ran its course.
Some experts say the current apparent 'strength' in the housing market is due entirely to massive government intervention. But others say the $8,000 credit is only one factor in the recent increase in sales. Lower prices and historically low interest rates also are attracting buyers.
The local market is better able to withstand the credit's expiration now than it was 18 months ago, said George Rolfe, director of the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington.
“Relatively few new houses are being built,” he said, “and an imbalance between supply and demand has been largely corrected. In addition to the continued increase in sales, the September statistics also suggest home prices could be starting to stabilize.”
The median price of a King County single-family home that closed in September was $382,160. That's down 7.9 percent from September 2008 — but the year-over-year decline in every other month in 2009 has been in the double digits.
In Seattle, the median price in September was down only 3.6 percent from the same month last year. In Northeast Seattle, the median price actually was up 4.7 percent.
The National Association of Realtors has proposed that the tax credit be extended through 2010. Several bills in Congress would push back the expiration date and extend the credit to all buyers, increase it to up to $15,000 and remove income restrictions.
However, at this time, congress hasn’t agreed to any tax credit extension and it is still set to expire on November 30th. If you’ve been on the fence about buying, now is the time to get hustle and take advantage of the tax credit before it’s too late.
James Tibbetts is an associate broker for West Seattle Windermere 206-932-2550.
Full disclosure: James Tibbetts is an advertiser with the West Seattle Herald.
