1 - I wonder if local builders will employ these tactics?
As the housing slump drags on, some builders have a deal for potential buyers: Sign a contract, and if the cost of comparable homes drops before closing, you get the lower price.
2 - Localizing the national pending home sales index for Charlottesville/Albemarle -
2007 – 80 residential properties went under contract – 22% fewer than 2006.
2006 – 103
2005 – 112
2004 – 137
2003 – 103
For a better analysis visit CR, with the fun quote – “The NAR forecasts are always amusing. The recovery is always just around the corner!” Can’t you just smell the credibility?
3 – Good job, Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. Way to alienate your members. There is always an alternative.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://realcentralva.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter2.png){kind=icon}
Tweet This Post ![[Post to StumbleUpon]](http://realcentralva.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-su.png){kind=icon}
Stumble This Post
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up for Email Alerts. This blog tracks the real estate market in the Charlottesville, Virginia region, local politics, technology and other matters impacting the local real estate market. Thanks for visiting!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Jim -
Here’s the real question: how much of the cliff is hidden in averaging the sales over the course of the year? That is – for those 80 sales, how many took place during the first two quarters – pre-credit-crunch?
The recovery will hinge nearly entirely on restoring access to credit. Credit will not become accessible until true affordability comes back into the picture – when housing prices are more realistically in line with income, then we’ll see a ‘recovery’.
A clarification – those 80 are ones that actually went “under contract” – not closings, so it’s a better measure of real, timely market activity.
The recovery also needs to have increased consumer confidence – confidence that purchasing is better than renting.