Faced with rapidly appreciating home values and a dwindling supply of homes for sale in the critical entry-level and mid-market home segments, first-time and move-up home buyers – typically the housing market’s bread-and-butter – are likely in store for a tough spring home shopping season.
Key Takeaways from the March Existing Home Sales Report
Existing home sales regained some – though not all – of their momentum in March, rising 5.1 percent from February to 5.33 million units at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR), according to the National Association of Realtors.
Rapid Reaction: March Existing Home Sales
March represented a much-needed rebound in existing sales volume after February's big monthly decline.
Listing Language: The Relative Popularity of Different Home Listing Phrases By State
Think you know in which state you’re most likely to find references to boat landings in home listing descriptions, relative to the rest of the nation? What about snow mobiles, impact windows or dive-in pools?
March Home Sales Forecast: All Eyes on Inventory
It’s difficult to increase the number of home sales when there aren’t many homes available to buy, and constrained by limited inventory, home sales have struggled to rise over the past year. We don’t expect that trend to ease much in March, according to our March home sales forecast, setting up a potentially difficult spring shopping season for home buyers.
The Techie Codeth, Then the Taxman Taketh
Tech workers nationwide that own a home pay more in annual property taxes than non-tech workers.
Negative Equity Bubbling Up Alongside Crude in U.S. Oil Hubs
The effects of a slowing energy industry first showed up early last year in local rental markets, particularly in Texas. They are now starting to bubble up in purchase markets, too, as home values fall and negative equity rises in parts of the country heavily dependent on the energy and oil industries.
Continued deterioration in U.S. housing affordability – particularly at the low end of the market and for renters – is bringing to light a number of problems around income growth and social mobility that may have big implications for all Americans going forward.
Social Mobility May Suffer as Income Growth Fails to Keep Pace With Rising Housing Costs
The United States has long cherished its hard-earned reputation as the land of opportunity. But for millions working to ensure their children can move up the socio-economic ladder, rapidly rising housing costs are threatening instead to kick the ladder out from underneath them, limiting their potential social mobility.
