The National Association of Realtors has just released its quarterly report on metropolitan area median home prices. The Washington area’s median price (for existing, single-family homes) has inched up two quarters in a row, according to the analysis. The figure from 2006—$431,000—is still $100,000 above the current number. But note the recent progression in the right direction!

2008 Third Quarter: 333.0

2008 Fourth Quarter: 295.1

2009 First Quarter: 279.4

2009, Second Quarter: 319.2

2009 Third Quarter: 324.7

Today, President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion stimulus bill that included renewing the first-time homebuyer tax credit (as the A.P. reports).

The National Association of Realtors has posted a Q&A about the credit, which is altered significantly in this bill, on its website. Their responses should answer all the basic questions:

Who Qualifies for the Extended Credit?

• First-time home buyers who purchase homes between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010.
• Current home owners purchasing a home between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight.

To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase. If you or your client purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and the date the bill is signed by President Obama, please see: 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

Read More “President Renews First-Time Homebuyer Credit” »

The National Association of Realtors reported the first back-to-back increase in pending home sales in almost a year. “The Pending Home Sales Index,¹ a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in March, increased 3.2 percent to 84.6 from a level of 82.0 in February, and is 1.1 percent higher than March 2008 when it was 83.7,” the NAR stated in a press release.