April Showers on the Housing Market

The Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors reports that both numbers of sales and average sales prices are down against last March. This is no surprise to me as included in those sales numbers are a plethora of bank owned and short sale properties dragging values down. It has been a rather sad Spring, and while 811 properties were sold in the first quarter, 6,352 remain on the market. The opportunity market continues for both buyers and sellers, as people are here and willing to buy, and depending on when the sellers themselves bought it is a good time to extract themselves from a costly propert and downsize or upsize as the case may be. NPR reported today that the Fed will consider yet another rate cut, and while that does not necessarily translate into mortgage rate reductions, it tends to stimulate spending and create consumer optimism. What does this mean for you? If you can, buy. Real estate is still a good LONG TERM investment. They aren’t making any more Cape Cod, quite the opposite. Unique and exquisite properties will always hold their worth. I can show you some that are indeed special. And if you want a place for family and friends to mill about and BBQ after dragging the floats back after a long day riding the waves, I have that too…on sale.