Properties that pass the one million dollar mark are seeing a decrease in sales. There has been a decline in sales for the past four years. About 18,621 homes over the million dollar mark were sold last year and 24,436 were sold in 2008. In 2005 a total of 54,773 homes priced over a million dollars sold.
Strict lending regulations can be a reason, homes prices dropping and buyers are thinking twice about a purchase. John Walsh, DataQuick president, stated that the concerns about job security, prices and mortgage interest rates are not as high compared to those purchasing homes under the million dollar mark. With the way the economy is going everyone is thinking twice about where they spend and how much they spend.
Homes priced under a million dollars did not do so badly in sales. Last year sales averaged to about 460,166 from 393,703 in 2008. Experts believe that most of these sales are due to the FHA low down payment options. The FHA has increased the loan qualification amount from $362,790 to $729,750. Individuals who were purchasing homes over the limit of $729,750 did not qualify for the small down payment amount. This may be the triggering factor of the decreasing amount of sales for homes over a million dollars.
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