Q1 2017 Negative Equity: Slow Progress Beats No Progress
Slightly more than 5 million homeowners with a mortgage are in negative equity, down from a high of more 15.7 million in early 2012.
Q1 2017 Negative Equity: Slow Progress Beats No Progress
Slightly more than 5 million homeowners with a mortgage are in negative equity, down from a high of more 15.7 million in early 2012.
Housing Data 101: What is Negative Equity?
When a home falls in value to the point where it is worth less than the amount its owner owes on his mortgage, it falls into negative equity. This can happen in any economic downturn, regardless of severity or duration. But given both the unprecedented severity and duration of last decade’s downturn, negative equity grew like it was on steroids.
Why is Home Buying Demand So High? Partly Because Buying Conditions (in Theory) Are So Good
An incredibly strong jobs market, coupled with historically high levels of home affordability, is helping create a perfect storm of home buying demand that is proving incredibly difficult for home builders and home sellers to satisfy.
Housing Data 101: Why Is the Market So Hot?
Being a home buyer in many markets these days is harrowing. Sellers are in control, with buyers forced to contend with cutthroat competition and intense pressure to make a deal.
Does the Obamas’ $8.1M Home Purchase in D.C. Make Financial Sense?
In some parts of the country, spending a few years in a home is long enough to make homeownership a financially strong bet. Washington, D.C. isn't one of them.
Home Values Are Back, Except Where They’re Not
The median U.S. home value is back to its pre-recession peak, but not all markets behave the same. Denver recovered years ago, while Las Vegas still has a long way to go.
Rents Are Climbing Faster in Suburban Than Urban Areas
For the first time in four years, suburban rents are rising faster than rents in urban areas. The trend is more pronounced in booming markets where rent affordability is an issue.
How Rising Rates Affect Mortgage Affordability
If rates rise to 5 percent and homes continue to grow in value as expected, the share of income spent on a typical U.S. mortgage will jump to 17.9 percent. At 6 percent interest, the share becomes 20 percent. And at 7 percent interest, it becomes 22.2 percent.
Calculator: Need a Raise to Cover That Rent Increase?
The best way to cover a rent increase, if you can swing it, is to get a raise. That’s money out of your employer’s pocket and not your own – which, if they want to keep you and keep you happy, is a solid deal for everyone. But how much of a raise, exactly, do you need to ask for?
Experts Explain Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work, and Homeownership Won’t Keep Falling
Almost two-thirds of experts say rent control policies are “government intrusions into the marketplace that, however well-intentioned, always create more problems than they solve.”
