Two Takes on the Stimulus Package

I can't believe that the client of an associate is waiting to present an offer on a property he wants, because he believes that the new package will depress prices further. Huh?
From a real estate perspective one of the biggest potential benefits of this Economic Stimulus Plan is special Amendment #353 to the Plan, a provision for the Federal Government to buy-down mortgage rates to 4.5% or less for a 30-year fixed rate loan for the purchase of a primary residence. Without question, a 4.5% or lower, 30-year fixed rate mortgage would help stimulate housing sales and would also open the door to hundreds of thousands of new potential buyers by greatly improving housing affordability.
While the Economic Stimulus Package makes its way through Washington, real estate sales continue to show new signs of life. Just this week, NAR released its pending home sales report noting that pending home sales rose 6.3 percent nationally to 87.7 from an upwardly revised reading of 82.5 in November and is 2.1 percent higher than December 2007 when it was 85.9.
An article on Reuters.com points out that housing markets across the country may be nearing bottom and we should begin to see signs of new life by the 4th quarter of this year. Among the highlights of the article:
• "More than three years since the market began correcting, inventories are flattening, prices are coming back down to earth, and sales are approaching stability,"
• “The outlook, however, assumes stronger action by U.S. policymakers and says that even with further government intervention, the recession will keep the housing market from fully recovering until the end of this year.”
• “With this help, sales are probably at bottom, stabilized by foreclosure sales, while construction will hit bottom in the first half of this year, although the pace of housing starts will remain very depressed until 2011.”
The coming week will likely be an interesting one in Washington, D.C. as lawmakers make the final decisions on the Economic Stimulus Package. It will be exciting to see the details unfold and the plan take shape as lawmakers work to quickly restore our ailing economy....we hope.