Friday forecast.....

Interesting information has come from the year-ahead forecast by Pending Home Sales Index - interesting to me anyway.

Existing home sales are expected to be 5.67 million houses this year compared to just over 6 million in 2006 (remember, we were still in our hot market in 2006). The exciting news is that the Northeast market is seeing a resurgence which is important because that market was the first to slump.

Interest rates are expected to climb back to 6.4% by year end with a rate cut expected by the FEDs for short-term loans. This reaffirms the notion that the time to buy is NOW before interest rates start their hike back up.

It doesn't look too good for the new home market - with only 788,000 new homes expected to sell this year. This is an indication that people are taking advantage of the tremendous values of existing homes that are on the market or will be on the market.

Home price growth (the amount your home's value will increase) is expected to rise one to two percent above the rate of inflation! That's amazing news! That puts homeowners ahead of the game. Remember, still not the market of 2005, but good news at any rate.

I'm EXCITED! People who do this type of forecasting for a living are making projections even BETTER than I have.

Buy it!