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Health & Fitness

A March Real Estate Snapshot

We keep our thumbs on the pulse of the local housing market as well as the broader national economy.  By staying on top of this data we help our clients make informed decisions on one of life’s biggest financial transactions – the buying or selling of a home.  Today’s blog is a snapshot of where things stand in the first quarter of 2014.

Locally we are now experiencing a very strong real estate market.  There are currently 37 single family homes for sale in Concord, with price tags ranging from a $599,000 to $5,300,000.  In Carlisle, there are 25 single family homes with list prices of $448,000 to $2,645,000.  Acton also has 25 homes listed and prices start at $275,000 and go up to $2,280,000.  Despite the poor weather, our local spring market was off to a very early and healthy start with limited inventories and low interest rates fueling intense buyer activity and steadily increasing prices.  In the under $1 million price category in Concord, homes have been consistently going under agreement in about a week – with many multiple offer and over asking price scenarios. With prices rising, homeowners are seeing their equity return and this will likely motivate some to list their homes thereby increasing options for buyers.

Yesterday the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported that pending sales of single family homes in the state hit a 10 year high for the month of February.  The median sales price of homes under agreement in February was $295,600, up 7.5% from a year earlier.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On the national level, Kiplinger forecasts that the U.S. economy will continue to improve in 2014, with gross domestic product likely growing 2.6%.  Significantly, for the first time since the Great Recession, consumers should be pleased to see wages grow faster than inflation, with personal income rising at least 3.5% and inflation trailing behind at about 2%.

The Federal Reserve is expected to stay with its plan to ease back on stimulus efforts by scaling back on bond purchases.  Short term interest rates should stay near zero, but longer term rates will slowly rise in anticipation of accelerated growth in the economy.   Look for the benchmark ten-year Treasury bond to end 2014 with a yield of 3.3%, up from 2.8% today.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Friday the government released a much anticipated jobs report announcing 175,000 new jobs created in February 2014.  Economists had anticipated weaker numbers due to the severe winter weather, so these numbers while lagging behind the 200,000 average we experienced last year, still were encouraging.  The unemployment rate was up .1% to 6.7%, logging in a statistic that was essentially unchanged.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, home building is an area that can be an engine of job creation.  Over the last year the home building sector has added 101,000 jobs. And since the point of peak decline of home building employment during the recession, 243,000 positions have been added to the residential construction sector.  As the housing market holds stead with its improvement, new construction will certainly be an area of growth – and therefore job creation.

In summary, the economic recovery seems to be on a slow and steady road towards improvement, which is most definitely good news for all!

Contact us at www.mendosabalboni.com or at 978-341-5400.

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