Members of the Greater Louisville Association of REALTORS^® sold 15 percent more homes in September 2009 than they did the previous September, which represented the third consecutive month of improvements in sales. Louisville REALTORS^® sold 1160 homes and condos that month, compared to 1012 Louisville homes and condos sold in September 2008. Jan Scholtz, president of the Louisville REALTORS^®, said that the improved sales this past September are an indication that the Louisville real estate market is continuing to recover and stabilize. Louisville REALTORS^® also reported a hike in median sales price that month from $131,000 a year ago to $132,000. This past July, Louisville real estate professionals broke a streak of declining sales that lasted two years by reporting 1276 transactions that represented a 26 percent increase from July 2008. The next month, local realtors sold 1084 homes, a 12 percent increase from August 2008. Scholtz said that the sales gains in July and August were primarily due to the $8000 federal tax credit that motivated first-time homebuyers to buy starter homes in and around Louisville. However, she said that September was the first indication that the first-time homebuyer tax credit program was having a measurable effect on the broader Louisville real estate market. She said REALTORS^® were hoping to see a “trickle-up” effect when the owners of starter homes are ready to sell and move into bigger Louisville homes for sale. “They are allowing the starter-house seller to move, and we are seeing that now throughout the industry,” she said. The National Association of REALTORS^® lobbied Congress aggressively for an extension of the tax credit program and lawmakers enthusiastically supported the extension. Scholtz predicted the continuation of positive home sales in the area, even if there had been no extension of the tax credit program. “I’d say we’ve got at least another six months of residuals from this,” she said. For help with Louisville Real Estate, contact the professional brokers at Louisville Properties today.