Housing affordability has fallen in the last year and fewer households are able to afford the inventory of homes for sale based on their incomes, according to joint research released Wednesday by the National Association of REALTORS® and realtor.com®.The REALTORS® Affordability Distribution Curve and Score examines affordability conditions at different income levels for all active inventory on the market. A score of one or higher suggests a ma
Even though the costs of homeownership are on the rise as home prices and mortgage rates increase, more consumers say it’s a good time to buy a home. AJ Smith, vice president of financial education with personal finance website SmartAsset, offers three tips for helping buyers determine whether now is the right time for them to purchase. ‘Right now’ is not always the right time: Prospective buyers may feel pressure to buy a home before i
Fear of missing out—or FOMO, as millennials have coined it—has become a powerful motivator for young buyers to pursue homeownership, according to a new Bank of America survey. In particular, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where users often post about their lives as homeowners, are big influencers on prospective buyers, the survey of 2,000 U.S. adults finds. “I think it’s motivating them to think about homeownershi
The three major credit reporting agencies are implementing policy changes for credit scoring that could lift the scores of some consumers. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion will now exclude exclude all tax lien data from credit reports, which could raise some credit scores as much as 30 points, CNBC reports.The agencies began this process last summer, removing nearly 100 percent of data on civil judgments and 50 percent of data on tax liens from
The job market in some areas of the country may be robust, but continually rising home prices are keeping workers from being able to buy. Realtor.com® sought to identify the metros with the best prospects for a job and affordable real estate options.Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. realtor.com® found the professions that are expected to see the most growth in new jobs through 2026, including the green energy, health care, an
Subprime mortgages—which were blamed for sparking the last housing crisis—are reappearing, this time being dubbed “nonprime” loans. This lending option, which carries new quality standards, is growing for buyers who have damaged credit.California-based Carrington Mortgage Services is one company expanding its nonprime loan offerings. “We believe there is actually a market today for people who want to buy nonprime loans that have been pr
Borrowing costs haven’t budged much in recent weeks, offering some relief from the weekly rate increases that had almost become routine at the start of 2018.“Mortgage rates have been holding steady over the past two months,” says Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist. “Rates have bounced around 4.4 percent since mid-February. Rates could break out and head higher if inflation continues to firm. … If inflation continues to t
Rising home and rental costs are pressing millennials to expect more from their parents. About 17 percent of millennials—those born between 1981 and 1996—expect their parents to help them with their first down payment on a home, according to a report by Apartment List, based on about 13,000 responses.The Apartment List survey also showed about 8 percent of millennials who are not students get some form of financial help from their parents to
Homeowners in many markets are getting a strong realistic view of home prices in their markets. Appraised values were, on average, just 0.36 percent lower than what homeowners expected in March, according to Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index. Further, more than 80 percent of the metro areas analyzed showed appraisals at, or higher than, the owner’s estimates.“This month’s HPPI is great news for homeowners who may be thin
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that total mortgage application volume for refinancings and home purchases dropped 1.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week. Volume is now 5.5 percent lower than a year ago.Refinancings were the cause of most of that drop. The share of refinancing applications fell to the lowest level in a decade, and applications are now nearly 13 percent lower than a year ago, according t
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