Projected Increase in First-Time Home Buyers

Projected by TransUnion report there will be an increase in first-time home buyers.  The next 3-years, they estimate there will be 8.3 million first-time buyers entering the mortgage market.  This is an increase over the prior 3-years (2016- 2018) where 7.6 million first-time home buyers were added.  During this same period-of-time, there will be housing challenges for new buyers.  This includes high home prices, possibility slow wage growth, and limited available housing, but there are indicators some of these challenges may be slowing.  Per TransUnion, median age of first-time home buyers is 36 in 2018.  Some of the top reasons why these buyers want to purchase a home: desire to build equity and wealth, getting married, and increasing the number of family members. On the flip side, there are some potential home buyers who will delay purchasing a home because of their concern they do not have enough money for down payment.  In addition, there are some potential home buyers, especially born after 1995 that are willing relocate to another area that has more affordable housing, providing they can acquire good and steady employment.  Unknow by some buyers, it is not necessary to have a 10% to 20% down payment to buy a home.  Many of these buyers are unfamiliar with mortgage programs that are available, even buyers with lower credit scores.  Also, some of these buyers are not aware of minimum down payments depending on their situation and status.  This is especially true with first-time home buyers; they need to be educated on the mortgage options that are available to them.  This would create the possibility of more home buyers, because they now realize they have more flexible than they originally thought.  This in turn allows lenders to acquire more customers.