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Local Home Prices Drop

When people ask about real estate market conditions, generally the subtext is that they are really asking what things will be like six months or a year from now. Of course statistics can only tell us what has already occurred. Despite this inherent shortcoming: A sound statistical analysis can still give us a valuable perspective …

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Third Quarter Home Sales

BRATTLEBORO HOMES SALES – THIRD QUARTER REPORT Third quarter figures show that Brattleboro residential real estate sales have “bounced back,” from the May decline, so that we are at about the same lackluster level as this time last year. Number of sales are up slightly, average prices down. But due to the low sample size, …

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Real estate plunges with tax credit expiration

It is always difficult to discern what the real estate statistics for the first 6 months predict for any particular year. 

This year, the end of the federal home buyer tax credit was a wild card.  Buyers who put a home under contract before April 30, and closed before the end of June were eligible for up to an $8,000 benefit. 

Although the expiration of the tax credit was expected to prompt a drop in home sales, the actual numbers were dramatic.

Following the expiration deadline, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) dropped 33.3 % for homes put under contract in May of this year compared with May of 2009. (Using seasonally adjusted figures, the drop was 30%). 

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