July home sales beat last year, still opportunities exist for buyers

Very slight improvement over 2010 but I'll take it! Consumer confidence is playing a larger role than many suspect even as mortgage interest rates are at historical lows.

Home sales in Jefferson and Oldham counties improved this July over the previous year.

These modest gains are quite welcome as the real estate market as a whole has been sluggish since the 2007 downturn.

According to MLS data, there were 720 homes sold this July in Jefferson County, compared to 678 of July 2010, an increase of more than 6 percent.

In Oldham County, sales improved as well, moving from 58 sold last July, to 66 properties sold during July 2011.

The trend lines are also remarkably similar. If you go back to review these charts with previous ones, June, May and even April you’ll see how the highs of 2006 dropped off, then improved just a bit in 2009.

Aside from the heat, August has been a very pleasant month for home shoppers.

I expect numbers to improve over the previous year again next month.

If they don’t, poor consumer confidence numbers and persistent unemployment, currently 9.5 percent, are putting pressure on home buyers to stay put. But surely at some point, buyers won’t be able to resist these historically low mortgage interest rates.