Home sales up for first time this year

For the first time this year, there was an increase in homes sold in Austin compared to last year at this time.

According to the Austin Board of Realtors home sales rose six percent from this September compared to September of 2008, but the median price of a home in Austin rose two percent from the same month last year.

You may notice more of these signs going up around Austin, not for sale signs, but sold signs.
 

"What we've seen month after month this year compared to last year is we've been down 5 percent, September is the first month where we've actually had an increase over the previous year," said Garry Wise, the vice president of sales for the GoodLife Realty Team.
 

According to Wise, "Everything we're seeing, all the indicators are that we are in for a very good strong fall season here in Austin."
Ryan Boone will attest to that.
 

"I'm just honestly, I'm on cloud nine," Boone said.
 

Boone's been in a great mood for the last month, not just because he gets to tend bar at Moonshine, but because he just bought his first home.
 

"I've been renting my entire life and I always felt like I was throwing that money down the tube," Boone said.
 

Boone says he would have still been renting had he not qualified for the federal government's $8,000 dollar tax credit for first time home buyers, which helped him afford his down payment.
 

"The problem with being in these kinds of jobs where you don't have large paychecks it takes a little while to save up that kind of money," Boone said.
 

Wise says the tax credit helps seal the deal for about 50 percent of his first time home buyers.  He says whether the government chooses to extend the program is not as important as the factors that currently make up the perfect storm in the Austin housing market.
 

"The reality of the marketplace right now is we have extremely low interest rates, extremely low housing prices and what that produces is extremely low mortgage payments," Wise said.
 

The $8,000 dollar tax credit for first time home buyers will end November 30th.
 

Unless the federal government extends that deadline, to qualify first time home buyers must close their real estate transaction by that date.