After hitting its highest point since 2007 last month, housing market potential fell modestly in March, according to our Potential Home Sales Model. Housing market potential remains near the 13-year high point, but the severely limited supply of homes for sale and an uptick in mortgage rates pulled market potential for existing-home sales off its ... Read More ›

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the median renter experienced a 10 percent boost to their house-buying power relative to one year ago, but the share of homes they could afford to buy declined by 4 percentage points due to rising house prices, according to the First-Time Home Buyer Outlook Report. However, while we recently examined affordability ... Read More ›

First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi was interviewed on CNBC yesterday, discussing the outlook for housing affordability amid rising mortgage rates and expectations for the spring home-buying season. Read More ›

Soaring nominal house prices dominate recent headlines and for good reason. It is true that nominal house prices are the highest they have ever been, over 22 percent higher than the housing boom peak in 2006, according to the First American Data & Analytics House Price Index. The acceleration in the pace of annual house price growth began in ... Read More ›

In 2020, a combination of record low mortgage rates and millennials aging into homeownership boosted demand against a very limited supply of homes for sale, resulting in rapid house price appreciation. The nearly two-thirds of American households who already own homes saw their equity increase, while potential first-time home buyers, who are ... Read More ›

In February 2021, housing market potential increased to its highest level since 2007, despite the largest month-over-month jump in mortgage rates since October 2019. Housing market potential rose 1.3 percent in February relative to the previous month, and 12.2 percent year-over-year. While rising average tenure length was the largest drag on ... Read More ›