In part four of our five part series on "When is the Best Time to Sell A Home" we examine some of the broader national issues which affect the overall atmosphere of home buying and selling.

Jobs

When people feel secure about their jobs they are willing to take on more debt. But that’s not the whole story. When more jobs are being created (and filled) in an area than are exiting, and the supply of available homes can no longer keep up with demand, there’s competition for housing. A good indicator of where your local housing market may be headed is watching the number of net jobs increase or decrease; not just employment data. In other words, after all is said and done are there more jobs entering your area than leaving? And what kinds of jobs are being created? Those of high salaried professionals or perhaps less skilled labor and manufacturing jobs. Job and employment indicators can go far to help in evaluating the national housing market; and perhaps more precisely, have a direct impact on where you live.

New Home Starts

This is a great indicator of where large corporations believe the market will be months down the road. In the Bay Area the new home starts statistic has very little impact since most of the peninsula is already developed and resale activity is the predominant indicator. This is still an interesting statistic to watch especially when recovering from a housing downturn or recession. Here’s why; clearly an argument can be made that these large corporate developers are no indicator at all as to where the market is headed especially after the surplus of homes overdeveloped in 2006. However, the new home housing industry used the only real tool they have to control pricing and that is to cut inventory-by selling the homes they have and halting future development until which time they feel the market will pick up and sustain their sales. New homes start increases are a good indicator of a future bull real estate market

Remember that though a recession will be on a national scope, it will clearly impact some areas more than others. Know how these factors are affecting the market where you live.

The availability and affordability of money and the average consumers’ outlook on their job security and confidence ion the markets play a large roll in determining how buyers will perceive whether or not it’s a good time to buy a home.

Watch for Part V-How to interpret all of this and what can I do about it?

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