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...
Top Five Cities For Lower-Income Renters To Pursue The Dream Of Homeownership
Topics: Homeownership First-Time Home Buyer Outlook Report Renter Affordability
Where Can Potential First-Time Home Buyers Find The Largest Supply Of Affordable Homes?
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...
Topics: First-Time Home Buyer Outlook Report Renter Affordability
Where Lower-Income Renters Can Pursue The Dream Of Homeownership
In 2019, the growth in consumer house-buying power outpaced house price appreciation for the median renter trying to buy the median priced home. But, there are many renters with household incomes below the median income in their cities. We can measure affordability for all renter households based on their household income and the share of homes...
Topics: Housing Affordability Homeownership First-Time Home Buyer Outlook Report
What Cities Are The Most Affordability Friendly For First-Time Home Buyers?
Housing affordability, or the lack thereof, continued to generate discussion and headlines in 2019. That’s unlikely to change in 2020, as strong demand, driven by low mortgage rates and wage growth, collides with limited housing supply. However, it’s easy to overlook that nearly two-thirds of Americans already own homes so, generally speaking,...
Topics: Housing Affordability Homeownership First-Time Home Buyer Outlook Report
Where Do Renters Have An Edge In The Pursuit Of Homeownership?
Traditional measures of affordability can be misleading to potential first-time home buyers because they compare overall median household income with the income required to purchase a median-priced home. However, median household income includes existing homeowner households, which have significantly higher median income than renter households,...
Topics: Housing Affordability Homeownership First-Time Home Buyer Outlook Report
Top 10 Cities With The Largest Supply Of Affordable Homes For First-Time Home Buyers
Faced with often misleading affordability metrics and seemingly challenging housing market dynamics, many renters may underestimate their house-buying power and the supply of homes in their market that they can afford. Potential first-time home buyers can benefit from a more targeted examination of affordability, which begins by accurately...