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News Two crashes in Virgilina investigated09/02/10 - 6:47 am
First Lady visits VIR for a taste of life in the fast lane09/02/10 - 6:47 am
Virginia’s first lady came to Virginia International Raceway to run in some very fast company Monday afternoon.
ROCHICHI reunion stirs fond memories09/01/10 - 7:52 am
Former campers and their counselors who packed memories of outdoor fun and misadventure into their duffle bags each summer at Rochichi Point during the ‘70s unpacked and relived those memories…
Sports Comets look to rebound09/01/10 - 3:03 pm
Comet officials said yesterday the varsity football game with North Stafford remains on schedule for Friday night.
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News Home sales post rally
SoVaNow.com / October 29, 2009
Home sales in the area have risen by more than a third in the past year as the recovery in the national housing market takes root, aided by low interest rates and a new tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers.Local real estate agents associated with the Southern Piedmont Land & Lake Board of Realtors, a trade group for Halifax and western Mecklenburg counties, listened yesterday as Lisa Noon, vice-president with the Virginia Association of Realtors, discussed market trends during a luncheon at Italian Delight. Noon said the VAR is working with its national association to lobby for the extension of the home buyer’s credit, which is good for 10 percent of housing purchases up to $80,000. The credit has brought out more first-time purchasers and spurred sales in the low- to mid-range of the market, said Noon yesterday. “Overall, it’s been well received,” she said. The program, part of President Obama’s stimulus package, not only has boosted home sales, but created or saved jobs in construction, furniture and other housing-dependent sectors of the economy, Noon said. Noon said a healthy housing market is essential to economic recovery, making the tax credit worthwhile. “Our overall goal is to ensure a continuing strong housing market, and anything we see that will improve housing will improve the economy as well,” she said. VAR data show that home sales in the Southern Piedmont region — Halifax and the portion of Mecklenburg west of Route 4 — jumped 35.5 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to the same period in 2009. The realty group reported 84 home sales in 2009, compared to 62 for the same three-month period in 2008. Although the number of transactions has risen over the period, the median sales price has fallen, by 7.4 percent. The median average sales price was $129,702 in the third quarter of 2008; in 2009, the average price fell to $120,146. Prices are especially soft for homes in the upper range of the market, where discounting is more prevalent, real estate agencts said. Sharon Wilborn, with Realty Resource in South Boston, and J.C. Eldreth, with Century 21 on the Lake in Clarksville, serve as president and vice-president, respectively, of the Southern Piedmont Land & Lake Board of Realtors. They said a major advantage of the homebuyer’s tax credit is the ability to use the money to make a down payment, therefore allowing more people to qualify for housing loans. However, the thing that would provide the biggest boost to local housing sales, they agreed, is improvement in the job market. “They’re absolutely correlated,” said Noon. The Commerce Department reported yesterday that new home sales in September fell by 3.6 percent from the month before, a possible sign that the federal tax credit is losing its potency. Among the worst-performing parts of the country were the West, with an 11 percent sales drop, and the South, including Virginia, where home sales fell off 10 percent. In addition to some improvement recently on the sales front, the number of housing foreclosures in Halifax and western Mecklenburg has tailed off. The southern Piedmont sales area saw 13 foreclosures in the first quarter of 2009 and 23 foreclosures in the second quarter, but only 7 in the third quarter. Across Virginia, home foreclosures jumped by 15,944 in the first quarter to 18,135 in the third quarter, spurred by growing losses in the Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads areas. Tell-a-Friend | Submit a Comment Halifax News
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