Come June 30, the Federal Government’s Home Buyer’s Incentive Officially Ends

To qualify for the home buyer's tax credit incentive, buyers were required to be under contract with their home by April 30 and the home must close before June 30.

The incentive's deadline caused home purchases across the nation to soar in March by 30 percent.

From April 2009 to April 2010, there has been a 47.8 increase in new home purchases and sales, concentrated mainly in the southern United States, according to the findings of the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Real estate has emerged healthier and stronger than it was in 2008," wrote Vicki L. Cox Golder, 2010 National Association of Realtors (NAR) President, in the Realtor magazine. "We needed the tax credit to help normalize the market; now it's time for the market to stand on its own legs."

However, according to CNN Money's Les Christie, "Now we face the hangover effect."

While home prices have stabilized and interest rates are steadily increasing, which are signs that the market is improving, there are still looming dark clouds for the industry.

Bank repossessions are set to pass a million homes in 2010, more than a quarter of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth and an estimated 4.5 million homes are considered to be "shadow inventory," which means the home is foreclosed and needs to sell, but has yet to be listed.

The Census and Department of Housing findings also show a 26 percent year to date increase in new homes sold and listed exlusively in the western region of the U.S. from 2009 to 2010. Despite the increase in Utah's region, Utah's housing market has suffered along with the rest of the nation.

More than 22,000 Utah homeowners are encountering some form of foreclosure on their properites according to the Salt Lake Tribune's analysis of RealtyTrac data. Since July 2008, more than 18,000 families across the state have received default notices, 4,720 of those were filed since the beginning of 2010.

Lending requirements are becoming stricter, leaving many Utah homeowners unable to refinance or even qualify for a mortgage to receive the tax credit.

Nevertheless, with lenders tightening their requirements, it should lead to better housing conditions, "There should be fewer foreclosues," Al Bingham projected, a Salt Lake City mortgage lender.