Realtors Hoping for Slight Boost in Sales for Summer

Since the recession began, the housing market in Louisville and nationwide has fluctuated significantly from month to month. But local realtors are hoping for a boost in sales this summer.Greater Louisville Association of Realtors president Lamont Breland says warm weather, low interest rates and dropping unemployment can all boost sales, though he's not expecting the market to return to pre-recession levels…ever."Well I hope not. Those numbers were artificial. That wasn't real. That wasn't reality. I don't know what the numbers are for homebuilders, but there were probably two or three times as many homebuilders back then as there are today," he says. "I think we're still trying to figure out what a recovery will be, but I think a recovery will be somewhere around maybe where we were in 2009. I don't know. It's hard to say."Sales dropped in April and they've been low since the federal homebuyer tax credit expired last summer. Many analysts have speculated that unless buyers have reason to fear interest rates will increase, they'll put off buying—and selling—their homes.