Eye On Housing
According to the latest Housing Trends Report (HTR), the share of prospective home buyers expecting their house search to get easier in the months ahead rose to 25% in the first quarter of 2020, up from 16% and 22%, respectively, in the first quarters of 2018 and 2019. This rise marks the third consecutive year-over-year increase in the share of… Read More ›
According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report (HTR), the share of adults who are considering purchasing a home in the next 12 months fell to 10% in the first quarter of 2020, down from 17% and 13%, respectively, in the first quarters of 2018 and 2019. This decline marks the sixth consecutive year-over-year drop in the share of American adults… Read More ›
San Francisco, which has been the nation’s least affordable major housing market for the past two years, was supplanted by Los Angeles in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 63.2 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of… Read More ›
In January, NAHB released its new Priced-Out Estimates for 2020. A previous post discussed the often-cited estimate that a $1,000 increase in the price of a median-priced new home will price 158,857 U.S. households out of the market for the home. A second post discussed the related estimate that a quarter point increase in the mortgage rate will price out… Read More ›
As revealed in a previous post, 60% of buyers actively searching for a home to buy in the final quarter of 2019 have been looking – unsuccessfully – for at least three months. Why is it taking these buyers that long to pull the trigger? Once again, the most common reason is they can’t find a home at a price… Read More ›
Of the 11% of American adults considering a home purchase in the final quarter of 2019, only 43% reported being actively engaged in the process to find and buy a home. A year earlier, the comparable share of active buyers was a much stronger 54%. This finding suggests that mortgage interest rates steadily below 4.0% in recent months have not… Read More ›
While home buyers may have slightly more optimistic expectations about future housing availability (see earlier post), there is no improvement in their outlook for affordability. In the fourth quarter of 2019, 79% say they can afford fewer than half the homes available in their markets, which is higher than the 76% with that opinion a year earlier. This marks the… Read More ›
The shortage of lots that has been hindering the housing recovery eased somewhat in 2019, but remains elevated by historical standards, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The survey consisted of a set of special questions included on the instrument for the September 2019 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The survey asked… Read More ›
Despite help from the lowest mortgage rates in three years, an NAHB poll* conducted in the third quarter of 2019 shows that a strong majority of prospective home buyers continue to have poor expectations about being able to afford the homes for-sale in their markets. In fact, 80% say they can afford fewer than half the homes currently available where… Read More ›
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Application Survey, for the week ending November 8, 2019, showed a 5% increase in its Purchase Index and 13% increase in its Refinance Index from a week earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. This increase occurred despite the slight increase in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 4.03%, thus reflecting growing optimism concerning the economy… Read More ›