Home sales rise again - Business First of Columbus:

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The says existing-home sales — includinbg single-family homes, condominiums and co-ops — rose 2.4 percent from the Aprikl level. It was the first back-to-back monthly gain on such salesa sinceSeptember 2005, the association says. “Historically low mortgage ratez clearly drew buyers intothe market, and housing remainse very affordable even with a recent uptickj in rates,” says Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist.
“First-timw buyers are also being drawn off the sidelines bythe $8,0009 tax credit, which is helping to absorb The numbers would be even better, if it weren’r for poor appraisals, the Realtors association Pending sales of existing homes — thosr with signed contracts that haven’t yet closed indicate stronger activity. But some contractsz are falling through from faulty valuations that keep buyers from gettinta loan, Yun says. The association callzs the appraisalproblem serious, and says complaintzs about faulty appraisals have been snowballing acrosx the country. First-time buyers accounted for 29 percentr of salesin May.
The numbert of buyers actively looking is up almosyt 10 percent from ayear ago. Condo and co-o p sales saw the biggest gainin May, up 6.1 percent from April.