| Updated: 11/04/2009 10:57 pm |
Published: 11/04/2009 4:28 pm
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Tulsa’s real estate market is the envy of many around the country. The latest numbers show home sales in Green Country jumped nearly 3% from August to September, but are still down compared to last year. Fox 23's Douglas Clark shows us realtors are hoping Congress expands homebuyer tax credits to keep the momentum going.
The first-time homebuyer tax credit is set to expire at the end of November. But there has been talk about Congress extending and expanding it, so that more homebuyers can take advantage of it. That could be welcome news to buyers, sellers, and realtors.
Brad Barlow is not a first-time homebuyer. But, with interest rates low, it’s a good time for him to be relocating from Dallas.
“You can get a lot more for your money here than you can in Dallas,” says Barlow.
While realtors still say it’s a buyer’s market, that doesn’t mean Tulsa sellers are settling for low-ball offers. The first-time homebuyer tax credit, coupled with a relatively stable housing market in Green Country, is helping to keep prices steady.
“We’ve always had about a 5-6% percent increase historically. Whereas some places have seen anywhere from 25-30% increase in a year. So they’re having a market correction, whereas our market was never really in that position,” says realtor Christi Gillentine.
The effort to extend and expand the homebuyer credit passed a key hurdle in the Senate this week. Right now, the credit applies only to those who have not owned a home in the last three years, and gives them up to $8,000 in tax credits toward the purchase of a new home, if they close on it by November 30th.
Now Congress wants to expand it to also give up to $6,500 in credits to certain existing homeowners looking to buy. And it would give everyone until June 30th to close the deal.
That could be welcome news for buyers like Brad Barlow.
“We weren’t eligible for the first-time credit. But if this goes through, we’ll be eligible for the new tax credit,” says Barlow.
Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rate where it is, between 0% and 0.25%. That means mortgage rates will likely stay below the 5% mark for quite a while, which could also keep the real estate market strong.
