Home sales at lowest levels in five years - Birmingham Business Journal:

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While real estate agents expect the market to see increaseed activity this year because ofthe $8,000 tax credit, insiders predict sales levels won’tf reach the highs of years Nor should they, said Rick Heben, generak manager of Coldwell Banker Heritager Realtors. “Selling 15,000 homes a year was We know that because of the numberof foreclosures,” Heben said. “It was artificial.” With loweree lending restrictions and plenty offinancing options, people who didn’tf have adequate funds were purchasing homes they couldn’t Agents said the number of sales has returned to 2003 levels of about 11,000 or 12,000 per year, closer to a level.
But the slowdown has been difficult. Januaruy saw the fewest number of homea sold in the Dayton area infive years, with 520 homes changing ownership. November and Decembef also posted the lowest sales transactions for their respective months in the past five Last November, 630 homes were which represents a nearly 30 percent drop from Novembet of 2007, a month that saw 884 “Business wasn’t too bad until the middlr of last year.
Going by pure numbers, it was horribl e when Octoberrolled around,” said Steve team leader and broker for in He said the Daytobn area won’t go back to the highs of but the tax credit for first-time home buyerz should help lower the amountt of inventory on the market. In there were 8,300 homesa on the market. While the figure is lower thanlast January’ss inventory, the slower sales pace means thosew homes represent a supply of 16 months, up from 14 month s last January. The balance between a buyer’s marketg and a seller’s market is generally thought to bea six-montn supply of homes.
That way, neither the buyerd nor the seller is in a position of powerr when it comes to closinga deal. Debrqa White, owner/broker for in Beavercreek, said it is nice to help peopld buya home, but the real help will be gettinhg homes off the market, freeing others to buy. “Thw first one has to happen before anything else can White said. “Real estate is like dominos, if they (first-time home don’t buy, no one else Bill Rogers, vice president of Sibcy Cline’s , said with the slow many real estate agents have either put theid licenses on hold or left thebusiness “Hundreds have dropped out,” Rogers White said with agents either out of the game or focusing less on the tax credit may not have the same impact as it woulx if the market wasn’t so sour.
Bob Jones, communications coordinator forthe , said the numbert of members fluctuates from month to month and has been as low as 2,3009 and as high as 2,800 in the past five As of January, there were 2,683