03 Jun 08 Real Estate Buying Season?

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According to the Commerce Department, home sales increased 3.3 percent in April from March, when home sales dropped a staggering 11.1 percent. However, some areas that appeared to be immune to the recent housing slump experienced drastic declines in home sales during the same period; notably King County, Seattle, where home sales dropped more than 33 percent.

The summer months are considered by many as the home-buying season, however some economists have warned that home prices may continue to fall as much as 10 percent before the housing market begins to recover.

The main issues affecting home sales are the abundance of homes for sale, more than 4.5 million, and the tighter mortgage lending practices, which have greatly reduced the amount of home sales. An inbound loan officer for Countrywide told me that his phone rings off the hook by potential buyers; however, because the individuals fail to meet the lending requirements, he is lucky to close one in twenty callers.

Tags: countrywide, department of commerce, home loan, home prices, home sales, Homes for Sale, mortgage, Real Estate