Taxpayers in high property-tax states all over the country are fighting back, including packing up and moving to states where the property tax burdens are lower.
They find it particularly galling that tax bills continue to rise as home values decline, a common phenomenon. A recent survey by the National League of Cities reported that 25 percent of municipalities raised property taxes in 2009 to replace declining revenues.
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Freddie Mac said home prices fell 0.4 percent in 2009, much less than the 9.5 percent decline recorded in 2008.
In the final quarter of 2009, its Home Price Index, based on Freddie Mac-backed mortgages for purchases only, was down 1.4 percent from the third quarter.
The fourth-quarter decline is considered seasonal. Freddie Mac said annual comparisons are a better gauge of housing values. It also noted housing prices rose in four out of nine regions in 2009.
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It sounded like a great idea three months ago: Hand homeowners a $6,500 tax credit to find a new place to live, giving a thrust of energy to the housing market's recovery.
So far, people are staying put.
In November, the federal government extended a tax credit of up to $8,000 for people who hadn't owned a home for three years. This credit had helped boost home sales last summer and fall. Seeking to build on that momentum, the government added a new credit of up to $6,500 for current homeowners, hoping it would transform them into house-hunters this winter and spring.
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The sales of previously owned homes sagged in January for the second month in a row, sliding to their lowest point since summer and renewing concerns about the housing market's potential for a rebound, according to industry statistics released Friday.
Sales of existing houses, townhouses, condominiums and cooperatives fell 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million in January from December, the National Association of Realtors reported.
The sales are 11.5 percent higher than they were a year earlier, but the monthly trend is "not encouraging," the group's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said in a statement.
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Melissa Hughett and her husband set out to buy their first home in the best buyer's market in years, confident they would land a deal within a few months.
The couple put offers on several homes, but lost them all to rivals who weren't offering more money — just a lot more cash.
"Each time somebody came in and put $100,000 down in cash and scooped up the property or they had enough money to pay for the whole property in cash," said Hughett, 30. "It's agonizing."
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Austin was the nation’s second-fastest-growing metropolitan area between 2007 and 2008, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The population in the Austin-Round Rock area grew 3.8 percent to 1.65 million between July 2007 and July 2008. Among major U.S. metros, that growth rate was second only to Raleigh-Cary, N.C., which experienced a 4.3 percent population uptick during the 12-month period.
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Investment bank Goldman Sachs recently predicted that mortgage rates won’t rise much when the Federal Reserve ends its purchases of mortgage-backed securities at the end of March.
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Potential home buyers who delay have a lot to lose.
First-time home buyer and move-up tax credits worth $8,000 and $6,500, respectively, expire April 30. Buyers who qualify get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes or a cash payment if they don’t pay enough taxes to cover the credit.
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Average rates for conventional 30-year mortgages went up to 5.05 percent this week from 4.93 percent a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac. Interest on 30-year fixed loans had been below 5 percent for the past three weeks, close to the all-time low of 4.71 percent set in December.
The 15-year fixed rate also rose this week, with jumping to 4.40 percent from 4.33 percent.
Source: Realtor.org, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (02/26/10) |
A total of 1,008 existing single family homes were sold in Austin last Month. This was a 10% increase from last year.
A total of 10,217 existing single-family homes were sold in Texas last month, a 5 percent drop from January 2009, according to MLS data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
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Ten of the top 25 fastest growing counties in the country between July 2007 and July 2008 are in Texas, according to a Capital Area Council of Governments analysis of the most-recent U.S. Census report.
That’s more than any other state, with California registering six of the top 25 and Arizona and North Carolina each capturing two.
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