While first-time homebuyers contributed to the sales, this did not make the industry get back on its knees and prices continued going south. The NAR reports show that 134 metropolitan areas out of 152 had a drop in prices. The national median price of a single-family house went 13.8% lower that the price of 2008, to stand at $169,000. At the moment, distressed houses are being sold at over 20 percent less than conventional homes, and this is what is causing the average price to go lower.

It is estimated that nearly 455,000 people purchased their first home during the first quarter of 2009. Theses are people who were previously locked out of the housing market due to the prohibitive high prices. However, they can now afford their own homes thanks to the increase in the number of foreclosures for sale and the tax credit available to first-time home buyers. Studies have shown that this is the best time to own a home as they are offered at very affordable prices that have been slashed between 10 to 40 percent of the original home value.

The major areas where buyers are purchasing homes fast include Nevada and California. Compared to 2008, the sales in Nevada rose up to 116.8 percent, while in California they rose to 80.6 percent. Other states that have seen major increases in sales are Arizona and Florida, with increases to 50.2 percent and 25 percent respectively.

It seems that buyers have been waiting for such an opportunity to grab their share of property. First time employees and recent college graduates are taking advantage of these low prices too. In one state, it is estimated that nearly 60% of the first time homebuyers are recent college graduates or those who have just joined the workforce. Owning a home has never been as easy as it is today. With foreclosure short sales going at huge discounts, it is no wonder that many first time homebuyers are rushing for them.

It is obvious that the housing industry wasn’t doing well and the bad economy did not do much to help. The increase in the number of people defaulting on their mortgage payments reached an all time high during the last three years and this presented a good opportunity for anyone who wanted to own a home to get one at a cheap price. The numbers of houses that are getting foreclosed is very high and you can easily get a house of your dreams using the tax credit.

One of the reasons for the increase in the number of home buyers is that the foreclosed properties are being offered at values that are way below their real market values. The reason houses are sold cheaply is because the mortgage lenders want to sell them off as quickly as possible because every day that the property is in their possession, they incur the insurance costs, maintenance costs, and have to pay taxes on them. Also, since they are mainly interested in recovering what they owed, which is usually less than the actual cost of the house, they will auction the house to the highest bidder. Many first time home buyers have taken advantage of this situation and acquired houses at affordable rates

Foreclosures have offered people an opportunity to purchase homes at a price that they can afford. In order to find foreclosure listings, search the internet. There are many websites that offer free foreclosure listings, while others require you to pay a registration fee before you can access their full database of listings. Other places that you can find the listings include the local county clerk office, at websites of real estate agents, government HUD websites, and looking them up in the local newspapers and real estate journals.

The tax credits given to first time home buyers have been very instrumental in enabling people to own homes at a cheap price.