Tag: New York

Many people assume that renting is always going to be cheaper than buying a house. Mostly, this is because of the upfront costs associated with buying. Having to come up with closing costs and a down payment, in addition to taking on a monthly mortgage payment can be intimidating for someone who wants to buy but feels it’ll be easier and more affordable to rent. New data shows this is particularly true right now and it’s driving up the costs of renting a single-family home. Dr. Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist, says the current environment is causing the increase. “Those who want to buy are finding it difficult to find the right one, or may need a bit more time to come up with a down payment, but still want the advantage of space that single-family residences often provide,†Gudell said. “This, coupled with the foreclosure crisis turning millions of homeowners into renters, is a big reason why demand for single-family rental homes has risen over the last few years.†What this means is that, if you hope to buy but aren’t sure you’re ready, it’s important to research your options. In many markets, buying is still more affordable than renting, and may be especially so if you’re looking to rent a single-family home rather than an apartment. More here.

The American Dream is an abstract concept but always seems to include the idea of owning a home. Buying a home, for generations of Americans, has been seen as an achievement to strive for and be proud of. But do young Americans today feel the same way about homeownership? Well, according to one recent survey, they do. In fact, 81 percent of participating Millennials named owning a home when asked what they most associated with achieving the American Dream. Additionally, large majorities said they expect the idea to still be relevant to their children. To some extent, this is contrary to conventional wisdom, which often portrays Millennials as having been turned off of the idea of homeownership by the housing crash and financial crisis. Millennials, the thinking goes, are more interested in an urban, mobile lifestyle that makes renting a better fit. And yet, survey after survey shows young Americans are just as interested in owning their own home as their parents and grandparents were before them. Still, though Millennials aspire to become homeowners, they don’t expect it to be easy. In fact, they think it’s harder to achieve for their generation than it has been in the past. More here.

American homeowners may be overestimating their home’s worth, according to new data. The research shows appraisals in August were 1.35 percent lower than homeowners expected. There are a couple of reasons this could be happening. First, there has been a lot of attention paid recently to how far prices have risen over the past few years. But, while this is true, it is not necessarily true in every neighborhood, in every city, across the country. So, homeowners who have been hearing that prices are going up, may have a misperception of just how much their home’s value has risen. As evidence of this, data shows homeowners in the West thought their homes would appraise for less than what they eventually did, while homeowners in the Midwest were disappointed to find their appraisals didn’t meet their expectations. Another possible reason for the misperception is that homeowners are generally attached to their homes. And, if you’ve invested time, money, and maintenance into a property, when it comes time to sell or refinance, you’re naturally going to – not only hope for the best possible outcome – but expect that everyone else who looks at your house will see it the way you do and value you it just as much. Unfortunately, though, that may not always be the case. More here.

The real estate market is hard to time. That’s why you should buy a house because you want to become a homeowner and stay somewhere for awhile, not because you hope to make money off the eventual sale of your house. However, new data shows that recent home sellers who’ve lived in their homes for around 7 years have been seeing big returns. In fact, nationally home sellers sold their homes for 24 percent more than what they originally paid. And, in some markets, that percentage is far higher. For example, Oakland’s typical seller sold for 78 percent more than what they paid and, in Portland, sellers saw a 65 percent gain after living somewhere for 9 years. Most of the largest returns were seen in markets in the West, though Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Boston also made the list. It should be noted, however, that though these numbers may make it seem easy to cash in on your house, prospective home buyers should know that the housing market tends to move up-and-down over the years. Homeowners who are selling a home they bought 7 years ago were buying at a time when home prices had recently plummeted, which makes their gains more understandable and less likely to repeat. More here.

New data shows first-time home buyers bought more single-family homes during the second quarter of this year than they have since 1999. That’s significant, since first-time buyers are an important demographic for the overall health of the housing market. Typically, young Americans account for around 40 percent of all home sales. For the past several years, though, they’ve been less active. However, according to new numbers from Genworth Mortgage Insurance, they accounted for 36 percent of all homes sold during the second quarter of this year, which is an improvement over last year. Tian Liu, Genworth’s chief economist, says the number of interested first-time buyers is growing. “As the housing market matures, first-time home buyers are becoming an even more important source of growth,†Liu says. “Whether one looks at the three million missing first-time home buyers since 2007 or the historically low homeownership rate among young households, the potential growth opportunity remains large and will likely take years to play out.†In short, there is pent-up demand among young Americans hoping to become homeowners. How and when they decide to enter the market will determine what the real estate market looks like for the next few years. More here.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates were mostly flat last week, with little change seen for 30-year fixed rate mortgages with both conforming and jumbo balances, loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, and 15-year fixed-rate loans. However, because rates were unchanged from the previous week, that means they remain at their lowest point since last November. That’s good news for home buyers hoping to purchase a home before the end of the summer and also homeowners who may be hoping to refinance. So why hasn’t mortgage application demand gone up as rates have hovered at 9-month lows? Well, according to Joel Kan, an MBA economist, it’s because they haven’t fallen low enough for consumers who have grown accustomed to the historically low rates of the past few years. “Mortgage rates generally fell, but not as low as they had in 2016,” Kan told CNBC. “Borrowers potentially looking at a refinance might be waiting for a much bigger decrease in order to act.” The MBA’s weekly survey has been conducted since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications. More here.

Equity can be loosely defined as the value of your house minus how much you owe on the mortgage. Which means, as you make your monthly mortgage payments, you’re gaining a larger share of your home’s value. In addition, if your home’s price goes up, so does your equity. Ultimately, the more you have, the better. That’s why the numbers from ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q2 2017 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report are good news for homeowners. The report shows more than 14 million U.S. properties were equity rich, meaning their remaining mortgage amount was 50 percent or less than the estimated value of their house. That’s 320,000 more than the previous quarter and nearly 25 percent of all U.S. properties with a mortgage. Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM, says there are a couple of reasons behind the improvement. “An increasing number of U.S. homeowners are amassing impressive stockpiles of home equity wealth, enjoying the benefits of rapidly rising home prices while staying conservative when it comes to cashing out on their equity – homeowners are staying in their homes nearly twice as long before selling as they were prior to the Great Recession, and the volume of home equity lines of credit are running about one-third of the level they were at during the last housing boom,†Blomquist says. More here.