- PRICE IS RIGHT- Single-family home prices are at a decade low with their median reaching $154,600 in January! During the house market’s peak, this same figure was $230,900.
- BUYING V. RENTING BALANCE– As many of my blogs have been emphasizing, the balance that is ever shifting between home-ownership and renting is firmly on the side of home-ownership. Rents are on a sharp rise and home affordability is as well. Two trends that make a big statement.
Read more about this issue:
Buying Continues To Trump Renting
Rising Rental Costs: How Does This Impact The Real Estate Market?
Understanding the Debate: Home Ownership Or Renting
- INVENTORIES– Inventories are shrinking. “When excess supply dries up, people start building more new houses, which has the virtuous effect of reducing the unemployment rate and increasing the economy generally,” according to a USA Today article.
- MORTGAGE RATES– The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage (most popular choice for hoem buyers) is 3.59% just above the all time record setting rate of 3.49% that was recorded in July.
“It’s hard to argue against buying a house now, assuming you can get a loan,” writes John Waggoner, a columnist with USA Today. Sure, Waggoner says that getting a credit check for approval of a mortgage can be a “only slightly less intrusive than a CIA background check,” but for those who are able to qualify, a lot of analysts say that now can be a good time to purchase a home.
Source: “If You Can Pull it Off, a House is a Smart Investment,” USA Today (Aug. 9, 2012)
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