Consumers across the country can now take advantage of a Federal Housing Administration program to allow qualified home buyers to apply the $8,000 tax credit when purchasing a home. FHA will now permit its lenders to provide a short-term bridge loan that will let qualified home buyers use the tax credit to either make a […]

Existing-home sales, including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million units in April from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million units in March. Yet, home sales were 3.5 percent below the 4.85 million-unit level in April 2008, according to NAR.
NAR chief economist says first-time […]

“You can get a small one-bedroom in Brooklyn, a Georgian mansion in Georgia, or a rambling ranch in Southern California,” says Barbara Corcoran, real estate expert and founder of The Corcoran Group, a New York-based real estate firm.
This year, that money buys more: more space, more special features, more yard, and a better school district. […]

The general economic downturn, complicated by a severe credit crunch in commercial real estate, is dampening commercial real estate activity. In addition, a forward-looking index shows the forecast for commercial real estate sectors will remain weak for the remainder of the year, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
NAR chief economist said commercial real estate […]

Historically high housing affordability and low mortgage interest rates, combined with buyer opportunities in the distressed sales market, have increased home sales in many areas of the country.
“There has never been a better time to buy,” said National Association of Realtors® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, who presented NAR’s economic outlook today at the Economic Issues […]