June declared Home Ownership Month by Sussex County Council

June was declared Home Ownership Month in Sussex County recently by the five-member Sussex County Council.

At its regularly scheduled meeting June 2, council unanimously approved the resolution, which is the local portion of a nationwide movement that aims to recognize the importance of home ownership to the American economy.

Every year, more than a million members of the National Association of Realtors , including more than 1,400 members of the Sussex County Association of Realtors, mark the month of June with celebrations that include community service projects and housing initiatives.

“As we witnessed during the Great Recession, when the housing market goes, so goes the overall economy,” says Fred Dean, president of SCAOR. “There's no overstating the importance of real estate to the country's economic well-being. For this reason alone, we commend the Sussex County Council, and governing bodies throughout the country, for recognizing this indisputable fact.”

In 2014, more than 4,700 properties were sold in Sussex County, including 2,707 single-family homes. Each sale carried with it a 3 percent real estate transfer tax, split equally among buyer and seller, that contributed to the state's general fund.

But the economic impact of even one real estate sale has more far-reaching effects than a one-time credit to the state's bank account.

Other economic contributors to any real estate deal include, but are not limited to, mortgage lending, home appraisal services, moving services, furniture sales, appliance sales and, in some cases, home construction. When real estate suffers a downturn, so do all these other segments of the business community.

“The housing industry creates jobs, it supports local businesses and it takes a leadership role in many different facets of the community,” says Dean. “Of course, those of us in the business see every day the kind of impact that strong real estate sales have on any community. But it's nice when those outside of our professional circle see the same thing, which our council has for many years now.”

Though still recovering from the recession of a few years ago, the home ownership rate in the United States still stands at 64.5 percent.

For more information, go to www.scaor.com.