What would an influx of 3.8 million entry-level homes do for housing affordability? Limited inventory and strong demand continue to push home prices higher in America’s hottest housing markets, leading to declining affordability.  Forecasters are raising their predictions as tight inventories of homes, particularly lower priced properties, keep first-time buyers on the sidelines. Those 3.8 million homes, nearly twice … Read More »

You’ve heard of days on market for a listing? How about a year on market for buyers? A new survey found that one out of three buyers has been looking for a home for more than a year and now they are ready to grovel. Read More »

With prices rising every week, lenders as strict as ever, inventories at decade-low levels, interest rates starting to rise and competition for homes breaking their hearts, more and more buyers are reaching their frustration limits. Read More »

After accounting one out of four home sales in the depths of the housing recession and fueled turn-arounds in dozens of markets where waves of foreclosures and battered home values scared off other buyers, real estate investors today are playing a greatly diminished role in the housing recovery. Read More »

The Federal Reserve’s policy of buying mortgage-backed securities to keep mortgage rates low may be bolstering upper tier home values rather than helping to make homeownership more affordable for entry-level buyers. Read More »

Mortgage approval rates have risen nearly 20 percent over the past 12 months yet there is virtually no evidence that lenders are relaxing underwriting standards, according to the February originations report from Ellie Mae. Read More »

Once the hottest trend in real estate, single homebuyers find themselves trapped between soaring rents and stiff underwriting standards that make it tough for a single income-earner to qualify for mortgages that buy homes that will cost more tomorrow than they do today. Read More »

The rise in student loan debt is certainly a cause for concern, but may not be a significant a drag on young home buyers since the typical borrower has not seen a significant jump in the amount of debt incurred and seems to have a manageable monthly payment. Read More »

Some 10.7 million homeowners, or 22 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage, were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter of 2012, down by 100,000 from the second quarter. But the “sand states”, the states that dominated foreclosures for years, still account for a lion’s share of underwater borrowers. Read More »

Distressed homes, foreclosures and short sales, which are sold at a discount and depress home values, have fallen to the lowest levels since 2009 and are still dropping, according to the latest November market reports. Fewer discounted distressed sales contribute to forecasts of improving prices in the new year. Read More »