Tuesday Morning Coffee - Good news for sellers and buyers!

Happy Tuesday Morning to you!

The queue to climb aboard the recovery bandwagon continues to lengthen. The Wall Street Journal surveyed a gaggle of the best-and-brightest economists and found the majority of them believe the recession that began in late 2007 is over. In fact, many of these economists expect gross domestic product to grow 2.4% in the third quarter of 2009, spurred by inventory adjustments and strong demand for the “cash for clunkers” car-rebate program.

Reversal of fortunes in the housing sector has also turned many an economist's frown upside down. Existing-home sales in the second quarter of 2009 showed robust gains, according to the latest survey by the National Association of Realtors. Total sales of existing homes rose 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million units in the second quarter from 4.58 million units in the first quarter. The news that 39 states experienced increases was particularly encouraging.

Meanwhile, home prices continue along their road to recovery. For the country as a whole, median sales prices rose 4% in the second quarter versus the first quarter, pushing the median price up to $174,100. Many metropolitan areas appear to be on a bullish tear of sorts: San Francisco posted an 18% gain; Boston , a 16% gain, Washington D.C. , a 14% gain; Dallas , an 11% gain; and Chicago , a 10% gain. Even more encouraging, thoroughly routed Phoenix and Miami posted price gains, albeit slight – both were up 1% for the quarter. One data point does not make a trend, to be sure, but quarterly sales prices have been dropping every quarter since mid-2007, so this upswing is notable. Now we'll just have to see if it is sustainable!

In Summit County, we tend to lag behind the Denver and National economies.  When the rest of the country was seeing major decline, we were seeing irrational appreciation (2006-2007), so it remains to be seen if our market will experience the pick-up the rest of the country seems to be enjoying.

We are seeing prices come down, but we are also seeing a seasonal uptick in number of sales. Good news for sellers and buyers!

We're looking forward to a nice LONG indian summer....it certainly is gorgeous today.  Hope you can come up and enjoy summertime in the mountains.  It's quite lovely!

For answers to your real estate questions, call Allison at 970-468-6800. Email - [email protected]. Allison is a long time local in Summit County. Summit Real Estate – The Simson/Nenninger Team is located at the Dillon Ridge Marketplace. Allison’s long-time residency and years of real estate experience can help you make the most of any buying or selling situation. She’s a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), the highest designation awarded to a Realtor in the residential sales field.  Her philosophy is simple, whether buying or selling, she understands that the most important real estate transaction is yours.  Want to know the value of your Summit County property? Visit www.SummitHomeValue.com