Tag Archives: Housing Affordability

“This holiday season, homeowners are the ‘grinches,’ hoarding housing supply from willing buyers and keeping upward pressure on prices," said Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at First American. But the question remains: Will the New Year offer discouraged homebuyers more hope?

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, "The latest weakness in existing home sales still reflects the buyer bidding process in most of October, when mortgage rates were at a two-decade high before the actual closings in November.”

Mortgage applications climbed in November, but will home sales accelerate throughout the end of the year? Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at First American, details the state of existing-home sales and more market predictions.

In November, new listings jumped to their highest level since October 2022, while home prices also posted its biggest increase since the same time last year. Pending home sales also continued to rise, but many home purchases fell through at a record rate as some homebuyers got cold feet, according to a new Redfin report.

The median asking rent was down from last month, according to Realtor.com's November 2023 Rental Report, with rental supply outpacing demand in the West and South, causing prices to cool.

While a recent apartment construction boom offered U.S. renters more options to choose from, an increasing number of buildings to choose from caused the rental vacancy rate to rise in Q3, according to a new Redfin report.

While the average homebuyer can now afford to spend even less on a home, a new Point2 study revealed that the median home price in the U.S. is now 50% higher than the average affordable home price.

While seasonal price trends typically place downward pressure on rents throughout the fall and winter, it may be no surprise that rents dropped in November, according to a new Rent. report. Asking rents have declined year-over-year in three of the last four months.

The least affordable markets included Anaheim and San Francisco, where homebuyers with the typical local income would’ve needed to spend over 80% of their pay on monthly housing costs.

Millennials outweigh Gen Zers in terms of population, but not when it comes to renter households, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies. Daniel McCue, Senior Research Associate, reveals the future of rental housing demand and projects the number of renter households both generations will add over the next decade.