Or a false bottom?
The average sales price in the Charlotte region climbed up to $191K in March from $182K in February, an almost 5 percent uptick which reverses months of decline.
The turn comes as builders and Realtors heavily hype the $8000 in “free” closing money from Uncle Sucker. Does this mean that sales have been front-loaded for the year by this government program? Or does it mean that the real estate correction has run its course and prices are starting to stabilize, albeit at levels 15 to 20 percent lower than a few years before?
Don’t know. We’ll simply have to see more than a month’s worth of data to know anything at all about the trend. Certainly absurdly low mortgage rates will continue help to the market. But again, you need income in order to consume anything, including housing financed at almost interest-free rates after inflation.
Update: Whoops! Lookee, here. Mortgage rates are starting to edge up again. Can’t stay below 5% for very long at the rate the money supply is growing.
