Boston Experts Predict “Robust” Spring Market

Massachusetts buyers, heed this call.

The Boston Globe quoted a mortgage expert Thursday afternoon as saying the planets are in alignment for a “robust” spring housing market. A number of factors merging together could mean consumers experience the best buyers market in more than a decade, the Boston mortgage company said.

Recent sales have been slumping; prices have gone sideways and down, but Summit Mortgage LLC sees a bright silver lining ahead.

“With reduced home values, historically low mortgage rates, and pent-up consumer demand, I think the spring real estate market will be a home run,” Richard S. Fedele, Summit’s CEO, said in a statement. “We’re now seeing more affordability in the housing market than we’ve seen in years.”

For people who have looked at the cost of a Massachusetts mortgage in the past 18 months, that good news comes not a moment too soon.

In December, the volume of sales for detached single family homes fell 16.6 percent throughout the Massachusetts housing market, and the median selling price for a single-family dropped 5.4 percent to $335,000 compared with the same figures in December 2005.

Mortgage rates, meanwhile, continue to be low by historical standards.

For the week ending February 8, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported that the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage was 6.28 percent, only slightly higher than the 6.24 percent average for the corresponding week a year ago.

Freddie Mac officials expect mortgage rates to stay mostly within the 6.3 percent and 6.5 percent range throughout the year, which represents more great news for potential home mortgage loan applicants.

Combine attractive prices with attractive home loan rates, and the result is good news in the Bay State for the first time in quite awhile.

“Declining home prices are behind us,” Fedele said. “The spring market will be solid, and I expect some appreciation in home values by the end of the year.”

SOURCE: Boston Globe