A new survey from Bankrate found that primary reason 29 percent of renters can’t buy a home is they can’t afford a down payment.  However, at least one out of five of them are overestimating how much they think they will have to raise for a down payment. The more than 3250 non-homeowners participating in the survey expect that they … Read More »

Next September, two months before the Presidential election, America celebrates eight years since the Treasury Department took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and turned them into wholly owned subsidiaries. Since then the federal government’s control over the nation’s housing markets has grown even greater than ever. While we’ve been waiting for policymakers to fix a broken system of housing, … Read More »

Though 2015 was dubbed the Year of the Millennial, though the final sales data are not yet in, actual purchases by young first-time buyers disappointed many real estate observers. Between July 2014 and June 2015. first–time buyers declined to 32 percent (33 percent a year ago), which is the second–lowest share since the survey’s inception (1981) and the lowest since … Read More »

Student loan debt continues to grow as an obstacle in a consumer’s ability to buy a home, as 57 percent of 2015 respondents who acknowledge having student loans said this debt was either “very much” or “somewhat” of an obstacle, compared to 49 percent of 2014 respondents, according to the third annual America at Home survey from NeighborWorks America. The survey … Read More »

A new report from Pro Teck Valuation Services’ Home Value Forecast suggests that the availability of credit in local markers influences local housing recoveries and accounts for dramatic differences in home prices. HVF looked at regular average sold prices versus total mortgage trends in San Francisco and Detroit and found that in San Francisco, buyers have averaged 20+% down over … Read More »

Not only are home prices on a tear in many market, the percentage of the price required for a down payment is also rising. Down payments increased in size in the second quarter, as competition for homes picked up this summer, according to LendingTree. The average down payment percentage on a conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 17.34% in the second quarter, … Read More »

Changes in down payments have much greater impact on homebuyers’ willingness to buy for a home than changes in mortgage rates and lower down payment increase renters; willingness to buy six times more than existing owners, according to a new study published recently by economists at the New York Federal Reserve. The survey of buyers and renters found dramatic evidence … Read More »

  New 3 percent down programs from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac helped to lower average down payment to 14.8 percent of the purchase price in the first quarter, down from 15.2 percent in the previous quarter and down from 15.5 percent a year ago to the lowest level since Q1 2012.  However, low down payment loans by conventional lenders … Read More »

  New research by loanDepot LLC indicates the number of parents who expect to help their Millennial-age children purchase a home in the future will increase by 31 percent compared to the past five years, from 13 to 17 percent. Half (50%) of the parents who will help their children buy a home say they’ll contribute toward down payments, while … Read More »

    A new study by RealtyTrac found that in 25 counties with the highest median home sales prices at the end of 2014, the average down payment percentage was 24 percent for homes purchased, nearly twice as high as the national average of 14 percent. The average down payment in dollars in the pricier 25 counties was $138,547 compared … Read More »