The good(sort of), the bad and the ugly.
The drop from the 3rd quarter 2007-2008 was at -9%. From 2008-2009 it is - 10%. So consistency seems to be the key here (good...sort of). What this also shows is that the continued slow down. in the O'Fallon Real Estate market is not quite over(bad). In the last quarter of 2008, 76 homes closed. If one were to use the data above we could expect somewhere in the range of 62 homes closing in the 4th quarter of 2009(ugly). Right now in O'Fallon there are 60 homes under contract. If this number is expanded to include those with a contingency contract the number climbs to 68. Currenlty there are 246 homes for sale.
The wild card is how many folks will purchase and close before the tax credit runs out at the end of November. The National Association of Realtors projects that between 1.8-2 million first time home buyers will take advantage of the credit. That comes out to about 350,000 home sales nationwide as a result.
We are currently in the window where a buyer could still go under contract and get a home closed in time but that window will be closing shortly for most buyers. For more info on the tax credit click here. Short sales continue to rise, these are very attractive to home buyers however the time needed to get many of these to closing may be prohibitive to take advantage of the credit in time.
