June Home Sales Forecast: Home Sales Expected to Slow Across the Board in June
A recent trend of weakening home sales – both new and existing – likely continued in June, according to Zillow’s June home sales forecast, reflecting the increasingly heavy weight of limited inventory and soft new construction activity.
As the U.S. Dollar Strengthens, How Do Foreign Buyers Respond?
As the U.S. dollar has strengthened over the past few years, foreign buyers of U.S. homes have responded to the squeeze in different ways. Buyers from some countries have adjusted their sights lower and responded by shopping for less expensive homes, while others have likely dropped out of the market altogether allowing their better-heeled countrymen to seek more expensive places. And still others seemingly haven’t adjusted their behavior at all.
Inventory Is Down, But Listings Aren’t (June 2017 Market Report)
Inventory is tight and home values are rising, and it’s easy to assume that the main culprit for shrinking inventory is a shrinking number of homes being listed for sale. Easy, but wrong.
Typical millennial and Gen X homeowners with a mortgage have roughly similar levels of equity in their homes, even though Gen X homeowners are older and have had a longer window to own a home and build equity in it.
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.
Bremerton’s Affordable Housing Just Got Closer to Seattle – But There’s a Catch
A new high-speed ferry service connecting downtown Seattle with the city of Bremerton promises to make a number of more-affordable communities accessible to Seattle home shoppers. But because Bremerton isn’t part of the Greater Seattle market, some borrowers seeking even relatively affordable homes may need to do some potentially costly mortgage gymnastics to make their home purchase in and around Bremerton work.
Typical U.S. Home Sellers Gained $39,900 Last Year. See How They Did in Your Market.
Homeowners who sold in 2016 made 3.4 percent a year, the highest gain for home sellers since 2007, when the typical gain was $47,500. Typical sellers in 2016 also owned their homes for seven years and five months at the mid-point – the longest period in decades.
How to Save on Rent: Don’t Move
Landlords typically raise rents at a slower rate for renewing tenants, so people are bound to save some money by sticking around -- but who knew it would be enough to pay for another couple months of rent?
