On th
is morning’s news I heard that stocks fell on a disappointing jobs report. MSNBC.com reported, “Unemployment remains a major obstacle to a strong recovery. The unemployment rate jumped to 9.9 percent last month, although employers added 290,000 jobs. Investors want to see consistent job creation as well as regular declines in claims for jobless benefits before becoming confident that the labor market is healing.”
Therefore, I wasn’t expecting to see this from today’s Boston Globe, “The April gains were the largest monthly increase in 17 years, as employers added jobs for the third consecutive month . The unemployment rate fell to 9.2 percent in April from 9.3 percent in March and 9.5 percent in February.”
Since we know that housing won’t recover until jobs do, it is important that the local data is separated from the national data. If the Massachusetts unemployment data is correct, that bodes well for the future of our local housing market.
On May 4th – “The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® (MAR) reported that the number of single-family homes put under agreement in April was up 25 percent over the same time last year, while condominiums were up 22 percent. April is the tenth straight month that the number of both single-family homes and condominiums put under agreement had increased over the year before.”
The first-time home buyer tax credit of $8,000 and a move-up tax credit of $6,500 both expired on April 30th. The real estate community is holding its collective breath to see what impact the tax credit expiration will have on home sales going forward. We’ve had considerable momentum heretofore in the North Shore market; will it continue?
Using Multiple Listing reports, it shows that 190 single-family homes in the North Shore went under contract from May 1 through May 20 of this year. For the same period in 2009, 138 properties went under contract. So, in my informal survey, it looks like a better season this year.
Keeping my fingers crossed!
