With home prices continuing to rise nationwide, the financial benefits of owning a home keep increasing. According to a new report, homeowners with a mortgage saw their equity increase by more than $30,000 from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021.
Given how many people who plan to sell their home in the next year think they'll get more than they paid for it (nearly everyone), it's probably not a surprise that potential buyers aren't feeling great about the state of the housing market these days.
Over the last 16 months, people's attitudes towards where they live have shifted dramatically, driven by the rise of remote work. For many, gone are the days of living in the bustling metropolis. Instead, they are drawn to more land and more home for their money in the outlying areas. And that's exactly where homebuilders are building more homes.
Back in March, reports showed that the fourth quarter of 2020 was the mortgage industry's best quarter since at least 2000. That record stood for all of three months.
April was not a great month for the housing market, as sales of both newly built homes and existing homes slowed down. And now, it looks like that slowdown likely continued into May and perhaps beyond.
In many parts of the country, potential homebuyers are noticing the low number of homes for sale. According to many real estate analysts, the situation looks like it's not going to change any time soon, as more Millennials decide they are ready to make their move into homeownership. Learn how to buy a home in a seller's market!
Just how much of a seller's market is it right now? Well, nearly everyone who plans to sell their home in the next year expects to sell it for more than what they paid.
April is an even-numbered month, which means that new home sales fell again. In each of the odd-numbered months this year (January and March), new home sales rose. However, it was just the opposite case in the even-numbered month of February, when new home sales fell. And they fell again in the fourth month of the year.
Even though many people are looking to buy a new home, the lack of available inventory is keeping many of those would-be buyers on the sidelines for the time being. As a result, existing home sales just fell for the third month in a row.
One thing everyone, especially first-time home buyers, considers when looking to buy a house is saving for a down payment. As it turns out, you may not have to save as much as you think to buy a home.
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