Tag Archives: First-time Buyers

Total housing inventory increased by 3.2 percent to 2.29 million existing homes available for sale at the end of May, and is 1.8 percent higher than the 2.25 million homes for sale a year ago, the report says. Meanwhile, unsold inventory dropped down to a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace for May, down from 5.2 months in April.

Risk layering is largely responsible for the increase in risk on mortgage loans taken out by first-time buyers, according to AEI. Seventy percent of first-time mortgage buyers in April 2015 had a combined LTV ratio of 95 percent or more and 97 percent of them had a 30-year term. Without substantial home price appreciation, the low down payment and slow amortization makes it likely that these first-time buyers will have very little equity in their homes for many years.

In its latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices report, S&P Dow Jones Indices recorded an annual price increase of 10.8 percent among both the 10- and 20-city composites. Those figures compare to year-over-year increases of 12.6 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively. A consensus of economists surveyed by Econoday called for a gain of 11.4 percent in the 20-city index.

According to the latest Home Index Survey released by PulteGroup, Inc., out of more than 1,000 consumers surveyed in February, a combined 74 percent feel the economy is either better off (41 percent) or the same (33 percent) as it was this time last year.

More than 4 million first-time buyers want to enter the market, but they face some tough issues as market conditions aren't exactly favorable to new buyers. This conclusion came from the Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI), a new calculation released by Zillow and Pulsenomics.