The Boston Globe is reporting a slow down in home sales from month to month in August.  This snaps a 4 month consecutive increase in home sales.  The good news is that even though the month to month has dropped, there is still a gain of 3% from the same time last year.

“I’m not alarmed by the softening in sales,’’ said Celia Chen, a housing economist at Moody’s Economy.com.  “The trend is still very strongly up.’’

Home sales have been edging higher over the last few months as lower prices, affordable mortgage rates, and a tax credit for first-time home buyers have drawn buyers back to open houses.

A very good point that the author makes is that even with the home buying increasing 3% from last year, the average rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage has dropped from 6.09% to 5.04% last week.  With interest rates still very low, and the extended $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit makes this a great time to buy.