Real Estate activity in the Truckee area has spiked considerably since the first of the year.
 
Since January 1 (to February 4) there have been 60 new home escrows in the Truckee area with 34 of them coming in the past 14 days!  27 of those 60 have been in Tahoe Donner with 17 of them occurring in the past 2 weeks.
 
This is good news for our Sellers and the area real estate market in general.  
 
While some buyers are getting out of other investments and making cash purchases, others are taking advantage of the historically low interest rates on conforming loans (under $475,000 for our area).  As well, we are starting to see some banks offering competitive jumbo loans for the first time in over 6 months (some jumbo ARM's are starting under 6%).

 

Whether this current pace of activity is sustainable is yet to be seen, but we are excited and wanted to share this valuable information with all of our clients.

 

Although home loan rates are very attractive now, the picture could be quite different as some inflationary factors will likely come to light heading into summer. Oil prices may be on the rise as we approach the summer driving season, some of the economic stimulus might begin to take hold, corporate cost-cutting measures could start to bear fruit, and, perhaps most importantly, the Fed will no longer be a buyer of Mortgage Bonds. These are all ingredients in a recipe that could very easily result in significantly higher interest rates this summer...so if you have been thinking about acting on a home loan, do not delay.