With home prices soaring out of reach and rates hot, Americans are doing whatever they can to lower their monthly payments, according to a series of new reports from Redfin.
The typical monthly housing payment hit a record high of $2,721 in the four weeks ending March 24, up 10% YOY.
A combination of prices and rates is keeping homeownership unaffordable for the average family, which earns $30,000 less per year than necessary to comfortably purchase a house.
First-time buyers have it even worse thanks to boiling competition for low-priced homes. To afford a starter home, they need to earn almost twice as much as before the pandemic.
With these pressures on Americans’ wallets, buyers are looking for other ways…
Many Americans still can’t afford to buy a home as prices remain elevated and rates cool slowly, but sellers are already experiencing the unavoidable next step of price declines: falling profits.
Profits on home sales fell last year for the first time since 2011 despite price gains, according to new data from ATTOM. Home sellers made a $121,000 profit on the typical sale in 2023, a 56.5% return on investment.
This is a historically strong number – more than double what it was five years ago – but both gross profits and profit margins were down from 2022.
At the same time, the national median home price increased at the slowest pace in 12 years.
ATTOM noted that the data…
Pending home sales were up in July, marking a second month of increases, but there is still lots of room for improvement.
NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index rose by 0.9% to a reading of 77.6 in July. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
“The small gain in contract signings shows the potential for further increases in light of the fact that many people have lost out on multiple homebuying offers,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
“Jobs are being added and, thereby, enlarging the pool of prospective home buyers. However, rising mortgage rates and limited inventory have temporarily hindered the possibility of buying for many.”
Only seven of the nation’s 200 largest…
Builder confidence has dipped, breaking a seven-month streak of increases, as high rates and shelter inflation put a dent in new home demand.
The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which tracks confidence in the new single-family home market, decreased by 6 points to a reading of 50.
NAHB said that construction costs, lack of buildable lots, and ongoing shortages forced the reading down this month.
“But while this latest confidence reading is a reminder that housing affordability is an ongoing challenge, demand for new construction continues to be supported by a lack of resale inventory, as many homeowners elect to stay put because they are locked in at a low mortgage rate,” NAHB Chairman…
Homeowners are in for more financial stress in 2023 as insurance rates are set to rise.
Experts at Insurify, a virtual insurance company, predict that home insurance rates will rise 9% in 2023, from $1,636 to $1,784. That’s on top of last year’s 7% jump.
Repairs are more expensive thanks to increased material costs. Just as auto rates are impacted by inflation, home insurance rates follow market trends for materials and labor.
“The same inflationary pressures that are driving up your grocery bill are now driving up your homeowner insurance rates,” Colleen Finn, managing director of home product management at Plymouth Rock, a Boston-based insurer, said.
“It is costing more and taking longer to repair your home, increasing the average…
Borrowers once again affirmed that quality of experience matters more to them in the lending process than cost. In a new survey from Reggora, an appraisal management software company, most borrowers said they care most about speed and quality in an appraisal. These were followed by communication and professionalism. The cost of the appraisal was ranked as the least important factor. Of the 1,008 respondents, 815 said they didn’t care about the appraisal cost at all when choosing a lender. They focused primarily on interest rates, followed by the borrower’s perception of the loan officer. Having a relationship with the lender or hearing about positive experiences from others were significantly more important than factors like closing costs, special loan considerations,…
Millennials are often touted as getting the short stick when it comes to the housing market. Over the housing boom of the last two years, many Millennials who recently reached prime homebuying age started looking to buy their first home. But high competition and limited inventory have made this a notoriously difficult market for first-time buyers. This has been intensified by rising home prices. As of 2021, the average millennial with a mortgage owed $255,527 in mortgage debt, up 10% from the 2020 average and 16% from 2019. But while Millennials may be the largest buying cohort right now, Gen Z is right on their heels. Gen Z places much stock in the value of owning a home. Nearly 60%…
