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First-time home buyers are an ever-shrinking segment of the real estate market. In December, The percentage of first-time buyers tied the lowest level ever recorded in the National Assocition of Realtors' Realtors Confidence Index this year at 31 percent of the market.

Thirty-somethings Got Socked on Homeownership

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Jan 18, 2012

Americans in their thirties have seen their homeownership rates decline more over the past decade than either younger or older owners.

Consumers Top the Experts in 2012 Home Price Outlook

By: editor; Tue, Jan 10, 2012

For the past six months, one consumer survey after another has tracked increasingly negative expectations about home prices in the year to come while some expert forecasts were more positive. Now, Fannie Mae has turned the tables.

Seller Negativity is Killing Sales

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 30, 2011

Blame sellers, not buyers, for the lousy real estate market. Deeply negative sentiment is causing sellers to lose sales or keep their homes off the market altogether. Buyer sentiment is not expected to improve in the near term and market activity will remain sluggish for months to come.

Consumers Expect Big Rent Hikes in 2012

By: editor; Thu, Dec 8, 2011

Consumer sentiment on housing expectations is stabilizing as the year winds down and consumers are adopting a "wait and see" attitude towards 2012, according to Fannie Mae's November National Housing Survey.

Holidays Fill Spare Bedrooms

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 21, 2011

Homeowners fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom or two are putting them to good use this holiday season. Some four in ten American families (39 percent) are hosting holiday get-togethers that include 15 or more family members and friends, and more than half (54 percent) say they stay overnight with their families so they can all be in one household during the holidays.

Home Buyers Suddenly Grow Older

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 17, 2011

Why did home buyers suddenly grow six years older in one year?

First-timers Hang Tough

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 27, 2011

Rumors to the contrary, first-time buyers are alive and kicking, buying houses at virtually the same pace as they were before the first-time homebuyers credit first stimulated demand two years ago.

Renters Outspend Owners on Housing

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 20, 2011

12 Comments

Renters now spend five percent more of their household budgets on housing costs than do homeowners, and the difference is growing as rents rise.

Americans Double Up to Make Do

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 14, 2011

5 Comments

During the Depression, few American homes had an empty bedroom. The housing recession of the past four years has made empty spare rooms a luxury again by freezing families in place for years and limiting their housing choices.

Boomers are Betting on Real Estate

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Oct 12, 2011

10 Comments

Even though the real estate depression has delayed many from moving ahead with plans to sell the family home, baby boomers are a red hot market for investment properties.

Spooky Fears Haunt Consumers

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 10, 2011

Consumers don't plan to buy homes anytime soon because they think prices will fall farther next year, mortgage rates will stay low for a long time and they're very worried about their personal financial situation.

Credit Concerns Keep Renters from Buying

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Aug 15, 2011

Only 23 percent of renters living in single family homes-where more than half the nation's renters live today--believe that renting makes more sense than buying a home.

Buyers are Less Satisfied, Sellers More

By: editor; Fri, Jul 29, 2011

Home buyers are less satisfied today with real estate brokerage services from franchises and seller s more so than they were a year ago. That's the bottom line from J.D. Power and Associates' 2011 Home Buyer/Seller Study.

Luxury Homes Selling Faster

By: Steve Cook; Tue, May 24, 2011

Luxury homes have been spending about 16 percent less time on market since early March even though inventories have been rising, which is normal during the Spring buying season, according to the latest weekly report from the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing.

Fewer Homeowners Have Problems Paying Mortgages

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Apr 6, 2011

A new Harris Poll released yesterday found that the percentage of homeowners having difficulty paying off their mortgages has fallen from 29 to 22 percent over the past year, a 24 percent decline.

Homeowners Still Pay Credit Cards Before Mortgages

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Mar 30, 2011

Despite a steadily improving economy and declining mortgage delinquency rates over the past year, more homeowners still are paying credit card bills before their monthly mortgage payment, a three year old practice than roughly parallels the foreclosure era and the emergence of "strategic defaults," where mortgage holders walk away from their homes even though they can afford the mortgage payments

Half of January Home Sales were Distressed Properties

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Feb 22, 2011

7 Comments

Almost half of the homes sold in January were foreclosures or short sales, the highest level of distressed sales in nearly a year, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

First-time Buyers Show Signs of Life

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Jan 24, 2011

16 Comments

Seven months after the first-time homebuyer tax credit expired, first-time buyers registered a surprisingly strong share of housing markets across the country, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Challenges Face Luxury Homes

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Jan 21, 2011

6 Comments

Things were looking up for luxury home sales during the tax credit boomlet last year. However, the credit wasn't the primary reason; after all, $4000 isn't a compelling incentive to well-heeled move up buyers in the million dollar plus housing bracket.

IDAs Increase Down Payment Cash, Reduce Foreclosure Risk

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Mon, Dec 20, 2010

Low-income homebuyers who participate in matched savings plans (IDAs) and financial education are three times less likely to lose their homes to foreclosure than other low-income buyers in the same locale.

First-Time Buyers React to Rising Rates

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 20, 2010

5 Comments

A sharp increase in interest rates is driving first-time homebuyers back into the market, increasing first-timer share of the home buying market according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

Are Only 57 Percent of Americans Really Homeowners?

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 13, 2010

Is the homeownership rate really ten percent lower than the Census Bureau says it is?

Shared Equity: Roadmap to Homeownership Sustainability

By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Fri, Dec 10, 2010

6 Comments

Shared equity initiatives for low income families who buy homes below market value deliver sustainable homeownership solutions, low delinquency and foreclosure rates, and families who sold shared equity homes were able to use sales proceeds to purchase market-rate homes, according to Urban Institute.

Sellers’ Profits Fell 8 Percent Last Year

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 15, 2010

Even though home sellers are holding on to their homes longer, they are making less profit from the equity in their homes when they sell, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.

Owners Stay Home During Housing Depression

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Nov 7, 2010

Homeowners are staying put as long as they possibly can and house flipping is almost nonexistent today as consumers weather the longest housing depression in modern times.

Rental Vacancies Shrink, Ownership Vacancies Rise

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 4, 2010

4 Comments

Nothing shows the pendulum swinging away from home ownership and towards rentals more clearly than the latest vacancy data from the Census Bureau.

Mortgage Insurance Booms as Buyers Struggle

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Nov 1, 2010

Despite 19.1 percent fewer home sales in September than a year ago, private mortgage insurance applications received by leading mortgage insurers are up 32 percent in the past 12 months.

Support for Homeownership Falls 6 Percent

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 15, 2010

The number of Americans who believe buying a home is a good financial decision has fallen every year since 2007 and reached a low of 77 percent this year, according to an annual survey released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors.

Did Too Many FHA Buyers “Borrow Forward?”

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 11, 2010

3 Comments

Will the newly imposed changes to the FHA loan program, which finances one out of every three residential transactions in America, cause another drop to home sales?

Owning Now Cheaper than Renting in 18 Major Markets

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 8, 2010

3 Comments

Rising rents and falling property values in many major markets are combining the change the rent vs. buy equation for thousands of potential homeowners around the country. Suddenly homeownership is within reach of buyers who don't need a tax credit to make the numbers work.

Poverty Moves into America’s Suburbs

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 7, 2010

Some 1.6 million more poor people live in America's suburbs than its cities, according to a new study by scholars at the Brookings Institute.

Outlook Brightens for Luxury Markets

By: Steve Cook; Sun, Sep 12, 2010

3 Comments

While the end of the homebuyer tax credit has left most real estate markets begging for buyers, the luxury and second homes markets may be in for a boost in 2011

Inventories Soar to Critical Levels

By: Steve Cook; Wed, Aug 25, 2010

4 Comments

Inventories of existing homes for sale as measured by months supply broke an all-time record in July.

Cost of Homeownership Reaches $1,000 Monthly

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 19, 2010

Homeowners paid a median of $1,000 in monthly housing costs in 2009, compared to $808 for renters, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Credit Unions Cash in

By: Steve Cook; Fri, Aug 13, 2010

When traditional banks and thrifts are reining in, credit unions are grabbing market share in mortgages at a rate no one would believe a few short years ago.

Minority Homeownership Continues to Fall

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Apr 27, 2010

A steady decline in minority homeownership has driven the national homeownership rate to its lowest level in a decade, according to data released by the Census Bureau for the first quarter of 2010.

Real Estate Professionals Cautious on Direction of Home Prices

By: Steve Cook; Mon, Mar 22, 2010

6 Comments

Despite their reputation for optimism, a new survey shows that the vast majority of real estate professionals are cautious or negative on the near term outlook for home prices.

First-time Buyers Faded in Q4

By: Steve Cook; Tue, Jan 19, 2010

First-time homebuyers, the most important segment of the home purchase market in 2009, accounted for a shrinking share of the housing market as 2009 drew to a close.

Realtors in HomeGain Survey See Prices Stabilizing or Improving

By: Steve Cook; Thu, Dec 10, 2009