Long Island, NY Real Estate and Homes For Sale

Improving Affordability = Buying Opportunity

Here's an all-points bulletin to prospective homebuyers: The protracted decline in home prices has made many houses more affordable than they've been in years. You know what this means? Housing could shift from a buyer's market to a seller's market before you know it.  Remember, incomes are still rising, so home prices don't have to fall as much as you think before buyers decide that they can once more afford the home of their dreams. Sooner or later, the fact that housing is more affordable will sink in. That's when the market will turn.

-- "Housing Market May Turn More Quickly Than You Expect," by Dr. Irwin Kellner, MarketWatch,June 3, 2008.

Declining home prices across the nation are bringing valuations - the difference between what a home should cost and its actual price - back to pre-bubble levels, according to a survey conducted for financial research firm Global Insight and banking company National City Corp. "We've covered a lot of territory in terms of restoring balance in the housing market. The froth has been completely blown away."

-- Richard DeKaser, National City's chief economist, "Housing Affordability Back to Pre-bubble Levels," by Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com, June 2, 2008.

The reason sales are slowly turning around is that smart homebuyers recognize that prices will recover. They'd rather benefit from the next boom than see the current seller get it. When have you ever seen housing retest previous lows? This past year is the first in decades in which housing prices went lower. Typically, housing prices beat inflation by one or two percent. The 2007-2008 housing recession is an anomaly. You've seen housing prices retreat as far back as 2004 in some locales, but you don't see them retreating to 2000.

-- Richard DeKaser, National City's chief economist, "Realty Viewpoint: Guess What? Equity Recovers," by Blanche Evans, Realty Times, May 30, 2008.

Foreign Buyers Have Confidence in U.S. Housing Market

Declining prices and a weak dollar have made U.S. property more appealing to overseas buyers, while a weak U.S. economy has forced real estate agents to look farther afield for buyers.  Last year one-third of American agents worked with at least one international buyer, according to the National Association of Realtors. The top five countries supplying international customers were Mexico, Britain, Canada, India and China.

-- "They're getting away from it all, to the U.S.," by Jane Hodges, MSNBC.com, June 4, 2008.

While Americans are discouraged by images of neighborhoods blighted by "For Sale" signs and taped-off properties, foreign buyers are much more optimistic, especially about the long-term health of the U.S. market. "The foreign buyer has an unbridled confidence in the U.S. market that is lacking in the domestic purchaser today. They view this as the bargain of a lifetime and are terribly excited about it."

-- David Michonski, a certified international property specialist, "Foreign Buyers Flock to U.S. Housing Market," by Aleksandra Todorova, SmartMoney.com, May 23, 2008.