The 2009-2010 IRS Tax Credit for home buyers was extended and expanded in November.  The new expiration date is April 30, 2010 and the tax credit now includes current homeowners, not just First-Time Homebuyers and income limits were expanded to $225,000.  For detailed information on this home buyer advantage, please click here.

 With new incentives in hand, every month that passes in 2009, shows great improvement in comparison to the previous months’.  The table below shows the difference between the market experienced in February, June and October YTD 2009.   As you can see, as 2009 progresses, the single-family housing market is slowly marching toward a healthier market.

  A summary of October YTD market statistics compared to last year:

• Sales are down from October YTD 2008 by 11% with 45,391 single-family homes.
• Dollar volume sold is down from October YTD 2008 by 14% with $9,202,482,156.
• Average sales price is currently $202,738, down by 4%.
• Median sales price is $153,000, down by 1% [half of the homes sold above and half below this midpoint range.
• # of contracts written [pending] are 31,101 and that represents 14% fewer than found last year.
• Active listings, a metric that is good if on a decline, are currently 27,758 or 21% less than last year.  This is also a metric that in Houston is the exact opposite heard frequently in the national news.

 The newly extended Homebuyer IRS Tax Credit should stimulate sales, particularly in the Spring of 2010 and it will be interesting to see if inventory continues to decline as it has in recent months.  The IRS Tax Credit should boost Houston back to normal market conditions sooner than it would have on its own.  Another added benefit to increasing home sales is that economists believe that for every home that is sold, regardless of the price, a $66,000 economic multiplier effect positively impacts the local market in which the home resides.  The IRS Tax Credit is truly an economic stimulus that sparks the local economy.