Consumer Hesitancy

The ongoing theme....consumers are hesitant to buy real estate. There are a lot of buyers with the cash, but are on the fence for fear there may be a significant market correction in pricing. What is interesting is the fact there are a lot of buyers with money. The demand is there, the confidence is not. When these buyers are ready to enter the market, the increased demand will open the doors for the real estate market. To help keep things in perspective, the following is a quote from Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR. "Existing home sales have been trending recently at an annualized pace near 5 million units, about the same as in 1998. Such a performance then was hailed as a milestone but we live in a different world now. A crisis in confidence is what's keeping homes sales from rising. Fortunately, our federal lawmakers have a tool under consideration that will break the vicious cycle of hesitance that grips our markets: a home ownership tax credit for owner-occupying buyers. House and Senate lawmakers are both looking at credits of at least $7,000."