Home sales rise again - Washington Business Journal:

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The says existing home sales, including single-family condos and coops, rose 2.4 percent in May. It was the first back-to-back monthly gain in existing home salesw sinceSeptember 2005. “Historicallyu low mortgage rates clearly drew buyers intothe market, and housing remainas very affordable even with a recent uptick in rates,” said NAR chievf economist Lawrence Yun. “First time buyer s are also being drawn off the sidelines bythe $8,000o tax credit, which is helpinf to absorb inventory.
” The numbera could be even better, if it weren’t for poor says the Realtors While pending sales of existing homes - those with signex contracts but not closed - indicate strongere activity, some contracts are fallinv through from faulty valuations that keep buyers from gettingy a loan, said Yun. The NAR calls the appraisal problem serious, and says complaintss about faulty appraisals have been snowballiny acrossthe country. Firsf time buyers accounted for 29 percent of saleesin May. The number of buyers actively lookin g is up almost 10 percent from ayear ago. Condominium and cooperative sales saw the biggest gainin May, up 6.
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