Increasing apartment rent, burdening student loans and rising home prices are making it difficult for would-be homebuyers to save enough for a down payment. Additionally, the prices of the lower cost previously-owned homes are increasing faster than more expensive homes.
“It’s just a lack of affordable homes, especially in the starter range,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said. “At a time when housing wealth is growing, we have fewer people participating in this recovery, and that worsens wealth inequality in the U.S.”
MHProNews understands the 31 year-old first-time homebuyer paid $170,000 for a 1,620 square-foot home costing $170,000. Repeat homebuyers were in their mid-fifties and purchased a 2,020 square-foot home for $246,200, according to the survey.
The homeownersip rate inched jup in the third quarter for the first time in two years, from 63.4 percent in the prior three months to 63.7 percent. ##
(Image credit: firstbanktrust)
