Zillow’s Breakeven Horizon: The Financial Answer to ‘Rent or Buy’?
Here's a tool for helping weigh the financial side of an exciting and personal question.
Market Trends
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.
Experts: Foreign Buyers to Have Limited Impact, Mostly on High-End Housing
U.S. home values are growing quickly, and expectations for future growth have also picked up. But while some may blame strong demand from overseas shoppers for rapid growth and fierce competition, experts say the impact of foreign demand on the market overall is muted at best.
April 2017 Market Report: A Decade Later, Home Values Return to Bubble-Era Peak
Some people will ask whether passing the 2007 peak means the housing market is in another bubble. It's not. In most markets during "normal times," home values typically rise over time to some degree, and absent any large shocks, each month will represent a new peak. The fact that it took the Zillow Home Value Index a decade to return to this point, let alone exceed it, is a testament to how far the market fell when it crashed. It's also a reflection of how outlandishly high it had climbed.
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.
How the Bay Area Bounced Back From the Dot-Com Bust
The lesson for Bay Area homeowners: Homes priced toward the bottom end of the market offer less risk and are likely to recovery more quickly if the area’s housing market temporarily declines. For the rest of us: All market declines are not created equal. Even 35 months doesn’t seem like a long recovery when the alternative is a decade.
Transfer Taxes: A Rude Surprise for Some Home Sellers
These taxes are a commonly overlooked hidden cost to selling, and they vary considerably across markets. For example, transfer taxes on a median-valued home in Chicago total $2,501. If you live just outside the city limits, they're only $313.
An Inventory Quandary: Three Theories for Why People Are Moving Less
The shift from single-family homes being owned to being rented has likely been an important contributing factor to low turnover. As rental homes, these properties are put up for sale less frequently – creating more options for renters and fewer for buyers.
Southern Comfort: First-Time Home Buyers Will Find More Favorable Conditions in the South
First-time home buyers looking for friendly market conditions would do well to avoid the busy, headline-making markets in the West and the Northeast, and focus their search instead on homes in slower-moving, more sedate Southern and Midwestern metros.
What’s the Best Time of Year for Home Buyers?
The start of the busy home shopping season in early spring is a time of optimism for would-be home buyers – more new listings come on the market in spring than any other time of year. Come late spring, however, that optimism may turn into desperation as fear of missing out on the season’s newly listed homes leads many to pay more for a home than they otherwise may have.
