The Los Angeles Times was out Friday with a story confirming what many if not most home builders already knew: Buyer incentives are back. Here's what the Times had to say:
As the housing market has downshifted, more builders are offering sweeteners to close the deal.
Companies large and small are paying closing costs, buying down mortgage rates and trimming square footage to offer a cheaper abode. Some are countering the high cost of a mortgage with a more direct method — outright lowering prices on newly built homes.
“We are really working a little bit harder ... to get people in the door and to get people excited,” said Mark Mullin, a real estate agent selling several new projects in the Los Angeles area.
At the Gallery, a project in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, a builder even offered to pay the lease on a Mini Cooper car if potential buyers agreed to go into escrow on a home.
“These are things they were not having to do a year ago,” said Mullin, who’s not working with the Valley Village builder.
Nationwide surveys indicate concessions are still minor compared to last decade’s downturn, and a recent pullback in mortgage rates could put some heat back into the market. But there has been a decided shift in favor of the buyer.
