Low Mortgage Rates Prompt D.C. Area Home Sales

For more than a year, Sally Swift was renting a house in Silver Spring. But last month, she decided to buy it.

"I suspect we would have purchased no matter what the mortgage rate was, but the idea that it was as low, has it made it clear it was a really good time to buy the house," she says.

Swift now lives in her own two-bedroom house with her husband and three kids. And it's not just Swift; many people in the region are closing the deal.

Mortgage rates are at a record low, dipping down to 3.62 percent for a fixed 30-year mortgage. New numbers show that buyers in the region are taking advantage of this incentive. In the mid-Atlantic region, the home sales are up by almost 14 percent compared to the same time last year. In the District alone, the sales are up by about 5 percent.

President of Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors Bonnie Casper says confidence is back in the market.

"A lot of people are now beginning to see they have stability, and are being able to purchase homes and the transactions are really occurring now," says Casper.

Houses are being sold quickly. According to Casper, homes are on sale for a far shorter period of time this year compared to last.