THE HUNTSVILLE TIMES REPORTS

Home sales soar last month

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

By Gina Hannah
Times Business Writer gina.hannah@htimes.com

Madison County’s figure of 526 is a November record Home sales in Madison County in November set an all-time record for the month, as homebuyers took advantage of a federal tax credit. Sales for the month increased 89 percent over the same month last year and were 19 percent higher than October’s sales, the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors reported Monday.

During November, 526 homes were sold, compared with 442 in October and 278 in November 2008.
“Sales for the month of November were unprecedented. We continue to see the housing market in Huntsville-Madison County improve markedly and are experiencing housing trends here that are rare and nonexistent in most of the country,” said Oscar Gonzales, the association’s CEO.

“It is exciting to see such a robust bounce-back, and it is important to continue to monitor the overall economy for any potential bumps in the road.”
Gonzales said he believes that the federal tax credit for homebuyers “is playing a huge role” in the increase in sales.

“I think people want to take advantage of it by the end of the year, and there’s always the conversation about interest rates rising,” he said.
“We did better in October and November than we did in September,” said John Morley of Morley Real Estate Group. “We’ve seen more sales activity and lower prices. (Buyers) are still looking for a deal.
“A lot of buyers coming here have just gotten the heck beat out of them with houses they’ve sold” in other states.

November’s median selling price - the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less - dropped 3.45 percent from November 2008 but rose by 6.4 percent from October. Nearly 91 percent of the homes sold - 477 homes total - in November were priced under $300,000.
“The smaller homes are selling better,” said Tommy Adams, owner and broker of Rise Real Estate. “They’re the ones, for the most part, that are getting the tax credit. The over-$300,000 market is still slow.”
Houses that were sold last month had been on the market an average of 88 days, compared with 91 days in October and 83 days in November 2008.

While November’s sales figure showed a large increase over 2008, it’s still well under the highest month on record locally: In March 2000, 1,870 homes were sold, according to association records. Gonzales said the high number was likely due to a large number of people moving to the Huntsville area with Army aviation job transfers.

Cindy Holt, a Realtor for ERA Ben Porter, said she believes that the extension of the federal tax credit’s deadline to June, and its expansion to include repeat buyers, will help sales continue to improve into next year. “It’s spurred more conversations for people who may consider” buying, she said.

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Exit at the Cove has moved to its new location. Stop in and see us at 6388B Highway 431 South just behind CB&S Bank.

By Jane Bennett Clark, From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, July 2009

Population: 378,057
Income Growth: 9.7%
Cost of Living Index: 91
Median Household Income: $51,275
Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 40%

Talk about a bulletproof economy. This northern Alabama city represents critical mass for the nation’s missile-defense and aerospace industries. The medical and life-sciences industries are thriving, too. Thousands of new jobs are pouring into town. With a few exceptions, business in Huntsville is so healthy that Mayor Tommy Battle has a pleasant problem: “We have more jobs than we can fill.”

Huntsville owes much of its red-blooded vitality to the U.S. Army, which employs more than 14,000 people, mostly civilians, at the 38,000-acre Redstone Arsenal. “If a soldier drives it, eats it or shoots it, we’re involved — beans to bullets,” says Dan O’Boyle, arsenal spokesman.

As part of an ongoing consolidation of army bases and personnel — known as BRAC, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process — the arsenal will hire 5,000 more people over the next few years, and another 5,000 jobs will be added indirectly to the area.

As for aerospace, Huntsville isn’t called Rocket City for nothing. The giant rocket replica that pierces the Huntsville skyline not only makes a handy reference point for out-of-towners but also represents Huntsville’s storied — and still strong — role in space exploration. The site of the historic test launch of the Saturn V rocket, which put the U.S. space mission one step closer to the moon, Huntsville houses an original Saturn V at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and hosts thousands of students each year at the center’s Space Camp. The Marshall Space Flight Center, part of NASA, employs 2,500 scientists, many of whom are working on the next moon launch.

All those scientists and engineers create a bubbling brew of brainpower that attracts other intellectuals. Says Rick Davis, director of Cummings Research Park, “Smart people come here.” Huntsville encourages the influx by offering companies below-market real estate prices and room to grow at Cummings, which encompasses 3,800 acres. The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a recent arrival, represents Huntsville’s foray into the next frontier. HudsonAlpha translates the results of the Human Genome Project into the development of new, targeted medicines. Says director Richard Myers, “In five years, we will all be taking our genomic sequence with us to the doctor’s office.”

Not every sector in Huntsville is booming. Car sales have plummeted in recent months, and home sales have slowed, especially for houses priced at $300,000 and up. Still, Huntsville’s otherwise strong economy, combined with a scenic, mountain-view setting, a historical downtown, top-quality museums and a 110-acre botanical garden, encourages residents to stay put and newcomers to stream in. Says Battle: “This place never misses a beat.”

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