December 2016 Market Report: What Could Flattening Rents Mean for 2017?
A months-long streak of accelerating home value growth was met with an equally long stretch of flattening rents to end 2016, a trend with interesting implications for the housing market as a whole as attention turns to the busy 2017 home shopping season to come.
November 2016 Market Report: Home Values Growing at Fastest Pace Since 2006
As 2016 comes to a close, annual growth in rents has stabilized, the number of homes listed for sale is at its lowest point on record and annual home value growth is accelerating. Looking ahead into 2017 and beyond, all three of these trends are likely to continue influencing each other and the market as a whole.
Q3 2016 Negative Equity Report: Bottom Heavy
Negative equity continues to recede as home values keep rising and the market inches ever closer to fully, finally regaining all value lost during the recession. And crucially, as home value growth among less-expensive homes outpaces growth at the higher end, negative equity is falling at a faster clip among entry-level homes – the exact kinds of homes sought by all-important first-time home buyers.
Q3 2016 Housing Affordability: Renting More Affordable Than It’s Been in Two Years
Incomes are growing, and growth in rents is slowing – leading to a (very) modest, but welcome, improvement in overall U.S. rental affordability in the third quarter.
Coming and Going: What Home Views Do, and Don’t, Reveal About Our Potential Moves
In fashion, as it has been famously said, you’re either in or you’re out. And real estate is often the same way in certain markets, with more people either looking to move in – based on their home searches on Zillow – or looking to move out.
Halfway through 2016, an all-too-familiar housing affordability story continues to shape the U.S. housing market. Incredibly low mortgage interest rates are helping make homeownership more affordable, despite relatively rapid home value growth. But renting a home is decidedly unaffordable, even as growth in rents slows down.
Zillow Housing Confidence Index: Homeowners Got Swagger, But Buyers Increasingly Discouraged
Homeowners have a lot of swagger in today’s market, and for good reason – home values are rising, demand is high and homes are selling very quickly. But the same trends helping to buoy homeowner confidence are also proving increasingly discouraging for potential buyers, particularly among current renters, a critical imbalance that could have important impacts on the market going forward.
