NATCHEZ — With encouraging real estate news on the national level and new tax incentives to home buyers, local Realtors said 2010 should be brighter than 2009.

For November, the National Association of Realtors reported a 7.4 percent increase in existing home sales from October sales and a 44 percent increase in sales over November 2008.

Sales figures are also up 46 percent from January 2009, when the housing market experienced its worst month ever.

The year-to-year jump is a record jump since the association began tracking sales figures.

On a national level, the sharp increase in sales is due partly to new tax credits offered to homebuyers.

Locally, Realtor and broker Butch Stewart with Coldwell Banker Stewart Realty said the Natchez market is too small to feel the effects of month-to-month sales trends, but good national news typically means good things are on the horizon in the Miss-Lou as well.

“We are excited about next year,” Stewart said. “The thing that is really going to push 2010 is the tax credits that are available for almost all buyers.

“We generally lag a little behind the rest of the country just because of the size of our market, but these (tax credits) have us optimistic for 2010.”

There are two credits available for homebuyers.

The first-time homebuyers credit was enacted as part of the American Recover and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It authorizes a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers.

Originally set to expire on Dec. 1, the credit has been expanded into the new year and applies to home sales that are in contract by April 30 and closed by June 30.

A new homebuyer is defined as a person who has not owned a principal residence in the three years prior to the new purchase.

For married taxpayers, the law applies to the homeownership history of both buyers.

In November a tax credit was extended to current homeowners looking to purchase a new dwelling.

Signed on Nov. 6 by President Obama, “The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009” provides a tax credit of up to $6,500 to current homeowners. The house purchase must be under contract by April 30 with the sale complete by June 30.

The assistance act is available to single taxpayers with an income of up to $125,0000 and couples filing joint tax returns with an income of up to $225,000.

Taxpayers with higher incomes do, however, receive a partial credit.

Charlotte Copeland, local Realtor with Century 21 River Cities Realty in Natchez, said her office is already feeling the effects of the new credits.

“They are definitely attracting buyers to our office,” she said. “For them, now is the time to buy. It is really motivating people who were thinking of buying to get out and do it.”

She said after the dismal year 2009 was for real estate, she’s cautiously optimistic about 2010.

“I sure don’t think it is going to be a great year, but it is going to be better,” Copeland said. “2009 was about dead for the first time in my 25 years.”

What would help the market even more, would be an influx of new residents, Stewart said.

“What we’ve got now is a lot of people moving around,” he said. “What we need is a lot of people moving in.”

Stewart said potential buyers need to be aware of the time constraints of the new tax credits, because he doesn’t think they will be extended again. Since the incentive is a tax credit and not simply a tax deduction, the amount of the credit comes directly off the taxpayers reported income.

“It’s it dollar-for-dollar credit,” Stewart said. “That is pretty doggone good.”

Copeland said with the variety of houses and price ranges represented in the Miss-Lou market, 2010 is the time to act.

“I don’t think it is going to get any better than this,” she said. “We know that the stimulus is going to end in April and the interest rates are likely to go up, so people have four months of good buying left.”