Housing in Plano and other suburbs rebounds

Sales of existing homes in July were down 14% from a year ago. That sounds like a negative number. Actually we are seeing that sales have stabilized and we expect that the sales for the rest of the year will actually be strong when compared to same months sales for 2008. Sales were up month over month in Frisco and McKinney. We look for an increase in sales for the remainder of the year based on two factors. 1) The first time home buyer credit will keep sales brisk into October. 2) Does anyone remember the stock market collapse of last fall. We experienced a severe drop in sales in November and December due to the stock market debacle. I believe we will see stronger month over month sales the remainder of this year. We also have a better job economy in Collin County than in other parts of the country. Collin county unemployment stands at about 7.6% compared to the 9.6 national average. Texas also was one of the top five states for decrease in first time claims for unemployment as reported yesterday. Things are looking better.