WASHINGTON, November 03, 2006 -
In a full-page newspaper advertisement running in six of the nation’s leading newspapers beginning today, the leadership of the National Association of Realtors® is launching a national campaign to urge home buyers who have been waiting to buy the home of their dreams to act now before the market changes.
NAR’s first-ever newspaper blitz features the headline, “It’s a great time to buy or sell a home.” 650k PDF" href="http://www.realtor.org/files/home_buyers___sellers/good_time_to_buy_ad.pdf">The advertisement (650k PDF) points out that interest rates have fallen seven months in a row and are near 40 year lows, inventories of existing homes are higher than they have been in decades and prices have stabilized. But the perfect conditions for buyers are likely to change as sales pick up, prices gain traction and conditions improve for sellers next year.
“Homeownership is a safe, secure way to build long term wealth. The national median price of homes bought 10 years ago has increased 88 percent. The number of U.S. households is expected to increase 15 percent during the next decade, creating a continued high demand for housing,” the ad reads.
It quotes former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan saying, “Most of the negatives in housing are probably behind us. The fourth quarter should be reasonably good, certainly better than the third quarter.”
The advertisement appears today in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and will run Sunday in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. It will run in the same newspapers again on the weekend of November 12.
NAR President Thomas M. Stevens of Vienna, Va., said the newspaper ads are the beginning of an NAR campaign to urge buyers and sellers to take advantage of the favorable market conditions. Two new network television and radio ads directed at buyers and sellers will begin airing in second week of January. The new spots will be rotated into NAR’s $40 million network Public Awareness Campaign.
NAR’s 1.3 million members and state and local Realtor® associations are being encouraged to adopt the message in their own advertising and communications to consumers, Stevens said.
“The market is much better than you might hear or read. Consumers should take advantage of this perfect alignment of low rates and extraordinary inventory before market conditions change,” Stevens said.
Total housing inventory levels fell 2.4 percent at the end of September to 3.75 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.3-month supply at the current sales pace, according to NAR’s existing-home sales report. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $220,000 in September, which is 2.2 percent below September 2005, when the median was $225,000. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.40 percent in September, down from 6.52 percent in August.
The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
© Copyright NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® I Headquarters: 430 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 DC Office: 500 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001-2020 I 1-800-874-6500
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