Yahoo Finance
Home price growth is slowing, according to the latest data from the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Jessica Lautz, Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research, National Association of Realtors®, has joined Wealth. We analyze the current state of the housing market and why more Americans are choosing to buy a home together. “It’s a very interesting housing market right now because we know that regionally, the West has always been more expensive, but we’re still seeing people move to the mountains and the sunbelt. We’re seeing an influx of housing and that’s driving up home prices in these areas.”We also know that it’s very difficult for first-time home buyers to break into the market based on affordability.” . Therefore, we are seeing very high growth,” explains Lautz. He points out that the qualifying income to buy a home is $108,000 nationwide, and that mortgage interest rates need to continue to ease to get more buyers into the market. “As we looked over the summer, we saw a drop in multiple bids. We currently have 2.4 offers for every home listed. It was during a tough peak period, when we knew that two-year interest rates were pretty low.”We saw 5.5 offers in the 3% to 3% range,” she explains. Lautz believes this level may never be achieved again, but he expects interest in the housing market to continue to increase as interest rates continue to fall.
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