Homes sales and prices up in April

Colorado Springs-area home prices and sales rose again last month, the latest in a string of improved showings for the local resale market.

Home sales totaled 792 in April, an 11.9 percent increase over the same month last year, according to a Pikes Peak Association of Realtors report.

The median sales price — or midpoint — of homes that sold in April and whose transactions were handled by association members was $187,500, a 4.2 percent gain from a year ago.

Sales have increased each month since June, while prices have risen for six straight months.

The federal government’s income tax credit program for homebuyers, which expired Friday, motivated many people to buy, said Bill Hurt, president of ERA Shields Real Estate in Colorado Springs and this year’s chairman of the Realtors Association board.

However, Hurt doesn’t expect homebuying to slow because of the end of the tax credit. The economy has shown signs of life, mortgage rates continue to hover around 5 percent for long-term, fixed-rate loans and prices remain attractive, he said.

“We see no indication that people aren’t going to be in the market,” Hurt said.

Also, while the tax credit has ended for rank-and-file buyers, members of the military who have been deployed overseas and are serving extended tours will remain eligible for the credit until April 30, 2011.

That could mean there’s still an opportunity for many Fort Carson soldiers to take advantage of the program.

As mortgage rates and prices continue to work in favor of buyers, sellers will face stiff competition. In fact, the inventory of homes for sale locally rose 2.8 percent in April, the first time the monthly supply has risen in two years, according to association figures.

Some people who were unable to sell their home and have been sitting on the sidelines might be jumping back into the market, Hurt said.

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