As we navigate the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, home has taken on added significance and there are signs that homeownership remains one of the main tenants of the American Dream. After hitting a bottom in the second week of April, mortgage applications to purchase a home increased for nine consecutive weeks, even exceeding levels from a...

As we enter National Homeownership Month, it’s important to reflect on the long-term trends in one of the main tenets of the American Dream. Following an overall decline in homeownership in the aftermath of the Great Recession to a low point of 63 percent in 2016, the homeownership rate has rebounded significantly to 65 percent in 2019....

First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming was interviewed on Yahoo! Finance last week, explaining why the April existing-home sales numbers are likely the trough in this cycle and that signs point to a strong May rebound for the housing market.

The shutdown of large discretionary consumption segments of the U.S. economy, with the intent to slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19, has triggered one of the fastest contractions in U.S. economic activity ever observed. As a result, millions of Americans have filed for jobless benefits and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent in...

As the coronavirus pandemic and its repercussions create challenges for all, it’s easy and important to focus on the day-to-day headlines and the information driving the news cycle at the moment. But, understanding long-term trends, even those that may be altered by the pandemic’s impacts, provides helpful insight into major decisions, like the...

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...