The Case-Shiller home price index came in last week with 9 out of the 20 cities in the survey posting year-over-year gains.  On a seasonally adjusted basis, the 20-city composite index rose from December to January by .3%.

Another report showed that the price per square foot for homes in 8 out of 25 U.S. markets rose in January compared to a year ago. And a third survey revealed that 23% of real estate agents and brokers are expecting price hikes in the next six months.

Buyers who want to take advantage of the homebuyer tax credit (along with today’s low mortgage rates) only have until the end of April to sign a contract — by April 30th — and need to close by June 30th.

Finally, last Wed., March 31st, the Fed ended its $1.25 trillion buying program of mortgage backed securities, which helped keep mortgage rates down. Buyers should note that most industry observers expect those rates to creep back up.

In San Diego County, we are noticing increased home prices with more “regular” sales compared to short sales and foreclosures. There are more buyers out looking and more multiple offers for aggressively priced properties. Now is a great time to buy if you’d like to live in San Diego’s North County!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 8:40 pm and is filed under My Real Estate Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.