Eye On Housing
In the past month, total mortgage activity, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, underwent a series of weekly declines, decreasing in the latest week by 6.3 percent. The latest week’s survey is for the week ending April 1. The latest week’s activity consisted of a 3.4 percent decrease in purchasing and a 9.9 percent decrease… Read More ›
Among first-time buyers, both a shower stall and tub in the primary bath ranked as the most popular of the 18 bathroom features listed in the NAHB study, What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021 Edition. The study asked first-time, as well as repeat, home buyers to rate the kitchen features on the following, four-tier scale (which emphasizes how a feature… Read More ›
Much like other home buyers, those buying their first homes rate double sinks and walk-in pantries as the most popular of 30 kitchen features listed in the recent NAHB study, What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021 Edition. In the study, first-time (and other) home buyers rated over 200 home features—including 30 in the kitchen—on the following, four-tier scale (which emphasizes… Read More ›
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest weekly application surveys show average loan sizes reaching consecutive record highs each week for the latest month, with a record high of $446,000 for the week ending February 4. Accompanying the increase was a similar dramatic rise in the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates, reaching 3.83 percent in the latest week. These factors are obstacles… Read More ›
The U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Construction’s (SOC) 2020 estimates of the shares of the number of bedrooms in new single-family homes showed a sharp upswing in the percentage of new homes started with 4 or more bedrooms, unlike in prior recent years. The most recent SOC data show the shares in the varying number of bedrooms in new homes… Read More ›
According to the February survey for the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), first-time home buyers account for 43 percent of the new home market. Weighted by builder size (single-family homes started in 2020), about two-thirds of the builders reported that more than 20 percent of their homes were sold to first-time buyers. Twenty-seven percent even said more than half… Read More ›