...and the weather was pretty bad too. The real estate winter is starting to melt and I’ve found a pulse. Needless to say, based on the barrage of negative press, you have all noticed that the real estate market has been down.

To give you an idea, the list-to-sell ratio in November, December and January was 5% or less. This means that for every 100 listings, only 5 were selling in month. A balanced market is around 20% so this is an extreme buyers market situation. However, for February the ration jumped to 7% and it’s looking even better for March.

The result of all this is great if you’re a buyer looking to get into the market. The interest rates are down at least a full percent on the 5 year term and prices are off in the range of 15% depending on the product. The two factors combine to make real estate much more affordable.

As you can see, buying a home is a lot more affordable. The interest rate change alone would get $50,000 more borrowing power than in 2007. combine it with the drop in house prices and today for the same payments the buyer is $125,000 further ahead!

There’s a lot of opinions on where the market is at today. Will it drop further, will the world economy drag us down? Even the economists are divided on this one. The one thing I know is that real estate is more affordable and the First-Time Buyer is back accessing the deals that are available today.

My expectation is that we will see a stop in the drop over the spring market into summer. Beyond that is dependant on many things. I suspect that the market will soften again going in to the end of the year but declines will be minor and shouldn’t deter a buyer from acting today while rates are at historic lows.

Now is a time to consider buying up, increasing your investment, making a first purchase or buying an investment property like a rental, vacancy rates are still very low. If you’re interested in getting more information on today’s market and what you can do within it just give me a call for a no obligation review.