A federal tax credit for first-time buyers likely played a key role in boosting single-family home sales for November in the Grand Junction market.
The Colorado Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that home sales climbed about 20 percent to 155 in November from 129 in November 2008.
“Some of that can be attributed to the tax credit,” said Erika Doyle of Doyle & Associates and chairwoman of the Grand Junction Area Realtor Association.
The tax break, which was to sunset in November, offers qualified first-time homebuyers a maximum credit of $8,000 on their housing purchase.
The credit was extended by President Barack Obama as part of an economic stimulus bill he signed in November. The credit is available through June, as long as a first-time buyer signs a binding sales contract by April 30.
Qualified existing homebuyers can receive a credit of $6,500.
The Grand Junction housing market is on track to record its strongest fourth-quarter sales period since 2007 when a total of 746 units were sold in the period. A total of 285 single-family homes were sold in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by the Colorado Association Realtors.
The first two months of the fourth quarter of 2009 produced 341 single-family home sales, with 186 occurring in October.
Statewide, a total of 13,837 single-family home sales were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2008. The state housing market appears poised to surpass that number in 2009, given that home sales through the first two months of the quarter were about 9 percent higher than the same period of 2008.
On the downside, the median price of a home in the Grand Junction market dropped to $200,658 in November from $223,571 in November 2008.
As deep as the price decline was in the period it was still higher than the median price recorded in October, which was $196,129.
Doyle said home prices have come down but that was to be expected given the state of the economy.
“We are certainly not bulletproof,” she said.
Statewide, the decrease in the median price of a single-family home was steeper, as it tumbled to $188,372 in November from $220,119 in November 2008.
One of the largest price depreciation was the 38.5 percent decline in Delta County to $102,500 in November from $166,667 in November 2008.
Reach Wyatt Haupt Jr. at whaupt@gjfreepress.com.
