Consumers across the globe tilt in favor of homeownership, despite steady gains in renting. Twenty-nine of 30 countries recently analyzed have a majority of homeowners, with Switzerland being the sole exception, according to a new analysis by RentCafe, a nationwide listing service for renters.While the number of renters is on the rise in 21 of the 30 countries, homeownership still prevails. The number of renters in the United States, for example
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this week that it is awarding $34.9 million to help low-income residents become more self-sufficient. The money will be allocated to public housing authorities, public housing resident associations, Native American tribes, and nonprofit organizations across the country. It will be used to hire or retain service coordinators to help low-income residents find jobs, educational opportuni
A shortage of homes and surging prices are hitting first-time buyers particularly hard heading into the spring season. The share of first-time homeowners dropped to 29 percent of all existing-home sales in January, down from 33 percent a year ago, according to the latest housing report from the National Association of REALTORS®.“First-time buyers are typically people with a tighter budget,” says Joseph Kirchner, realtor.com®’s senior eco
Home buyers and homeowners may be getting spooked by higher mortgage rates. Mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancings plummeted 6.6 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.Volume is now just 3.5 percent higher than a year ago, with annual increases continuing to shrink week to week.Applications to refinance dropped 7 percent last week
Home buyers locked in heated bidding wars are increasingly turning to escalation clauses to keep their offers in play, The Wall Street Journal reports.Escalation clauses are addendums to real estate contracts in which a prospective buyer is able to submit an offer but then raise his or her offer in increments to a maximum amount if others submit competing offers.In competitive real estate markets where homes are fetching multiple bids, real est
Blame it on the housing shortage: Existing-home sales posted their largest declines on an annual basis in more than three years, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday. All major regions of the U.S. saw monthly and annual sales decline in January.“The utter lack of sufficient housing supply and its influence on home prices muted overall sales activity in much of the U.S. last month,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economi
Homeowners may be surprised at how some extra costs really add up. A new survey by Bankrate.com shows that the average homeowner spends an average of $2,000 per year on maintenance services.Sixty-three percent of more than 2,200 respondents recently surveyed say they use at least one recurring maintenance provider. Thirty-five percent say they use two or more.The most common services and their average monthly costs for homeowners are: Housekee
Many home buyers find the mortgage process “stressful” or “complicated,” recent surveys show. As such, they may go through it and make some mistakes they later regret. Realtor.com® recently highlighted some of consumers’ most common pitfalls when getting a mortgage, including:Failing to shop around.About half of home buyers say they meet with only one mortgage lender before signing up for a mortgage, according to the Consumer Financial
Mortgage rates continued to inch higher this week, marking the sixth consecutive week for borrowing cost increases for home shoppers.“Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index report showed higher-than-expected inflation; headline consumer price inflation was 2.1 percent year-over-year in January, two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the consensus forecast,” explains Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist. “Inflation measures w
First-time home buyers are entering the market under tight inventory conditions and rising home prices. But not all cities are posing a challenge for those looking to break in to homeownership.A new study by LendingTree ranks the top cities for first-time home buyers in the nation’s 100 largest cities. They factored in average down payment amounts, the share of buyers using an FHA mortgage, the share of homes sold that the median income family
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