Homes for Sale in More Than Half of Large Metros Less Affordable Than They Used to Be
Real prices on homes for sale is hurting affordability in many areas. For example, the median home available to buy in metro Los Angeles is currently listed at $650,000, which would take up 47 percent of the median income for that area.
One-in-Five Renters Casts a Shadow on the For-Sale Housing Market
For-sale inventory is exceptionally tight and competition among buyers is high: In 2016, the typical home buyer made offers on at least two-to-three homes before closing. At the same time, almost one-in-five renters that moved into a rental unit seriously considered buying at the time, but didn’t – perhaps because of those same buying hurdles.
Where Renting Pays: Places Where Owning Takes a While to Pencil Out
It takes more than two years before buying the typical U.S. home makes more financial sense than renting it -- but that time frame varies by market. In San Jose, you'd have to spend 5.1 years in a house for buying to make more sense than renting.
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.
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.
