Homebuyers - many staring down a deadline to get the $8,000 tax credit for first-time purchasers - signed about 30 percent more contracts in the Baltimore metro area last month than they did a year ago.
That's by far the biggest increase all year, according to numbers released Friday by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., a Rockville company that runs the region's multiple-listing service. It's also the most contracts signed in the month of September - 2,662 - since 2006.
These pending deals don't count as home sales until they close. And as it stands now, they must close by the end of next month if the buyers are hoping to qualify for the first-time buyer credit. More Congressional leaders are talking about extending the deadline, but that hasn't happened yet.
"We definitely have noticed a significant increase in activity in the last five weeks in buyers trying to meet the deadline," said Chris Cooke, who heads a team of real estate agents at ReMax Sails in Baltimore. "I think it's buyers that have been holding out for the best deal possible, and now there's some pressure on them to follow through and do something before the end of the year. Nobody knows if [Congress is] going to extend that credit."
Home sales - the deals that actually settled last month - were up about 10 percent in the Baltimore metro area vs. a year ago. It was the fourth straight month in which sales increased year over year, a turnaround after the sharp drop-off in buying that began in late 2005 as the housing boom began to go bust.
Prices continued their descent. The average price of a home sold in the area last month was just under $275,000, a 7 percent decrease from a year earlier, MRIS said.
Buyers still on the hunt will find it a tall order to decide on a property, get a contract accepted and settle in the remaining 52 days - counting today - before the credit is due to expire. Daniel V. Iampieri, director of career development with Weichert, Realtors-Caton Properties in Ellicott City, said it can easily take 60 days just to get from contract to settlement for buyers using loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Most first-time buyers are opting for FHA mortgages.
Complex deals take longer to settle. "Short sales," in which lenders agree to forgive the difference between what the seller owes and what the property is worth, sometimes drag on for months as the buyer and seller wait to see if the bank will approve the contract.
