{"id":2455,"date":"2021-08-23T18:56:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T18:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/23\/fewer-first-time-homebuyers-are-competing-these-days\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:38:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:38:57","slug":"fewer-first-time-homebuyers-are-competing-these-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/23\/fewer-first-time-homebuyers-are-competing-these-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Fewer first-time homebuyers are competing these days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Existing-home sales grew by 2.0% in July from the month prior, a report published by the <strong>National Association of Realtors<\/strong> on Monday found. But <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/how-to-discourage-first-time-buyers-from-making-common-mistakes\/\">first-time homebuyers<\/a> are still getting squeezed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Completed sales transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, represented a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just under 6 million (5.99 million) in July, according to NAR. A year ago, the annual rate was 5.90 million, so sales grew year-over-year by 1.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A notable development: After a year of extremely <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.housingwire.com\/articles\/inventory-of-homes-for-sale-reaches-record-low\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tight housing inventory<\/a>, the housing market is showing signs of finally adding housing stock. The inventory of unsold homes rose by 7.3% to 1.32 million from June to July, the report found. However, even with the availability of more homes on the market, inventory for homebuyers is down 12% from 2020 (1.5 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said in a statement that as inventory starts to tick up, the intensity of multiple offers will lessen, leading to a more balanced housing market for homebuyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMuch of the home sales growth is still occurring in the upper-end markets, while the mid-to lower-tier areas aren\u2019t seeing as much growth because there are still too few starter homes available,\u201d Yun added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reacting to the report, Matthew Speakman, an economist at <strong>Zillow<\/strong>, noted that demand continues to be firm and is \u201cboosted, in part, by gains in inventory that are starting to offer buyers meaningfully more choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speakman said that the increase in inventory is being driven by \u201csellers [coming] out of the woodwork, providing home shoppers with more options, and likely easing some of the upward pressure on home prices in coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the median existing-home sales price rose to $359,900 in July, up from $305,600 last year, marking a 17.8% increase, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yun remarked that home prices are unlikely to drop in the coming months, though there is a chance that \u201cthey will level off as inventory continues to gradually improve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also said that the <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.housingwire.com\/articles\/average-home-sale-price-hits-all-time-record\/\">elevated cost of housing<\/a> is having an impact on the rental market, with prospective homebuyers who are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/business\/real-estate\/os-bz-frustrated-homebuyers-orlando-20210823-rp4i6k4rt5cbjfswaob6t7ohh4-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">priced out<\/a> of the current purchase market opting to rent, thus causing rental rates to jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Per the report, first-time homebuyers accounted for 30% of sales in July, dipping slightly from 31% in June and down from 34% year-over-year, NAR said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting at the <strong>Mortgage Bankers Association<\/strong>, said that first-time homebuyers have been \u201cparticularly sensitive to these elevated prices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c[First-time homebuyers] are also competing with an elevated share of <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.housingwire.com\/podcast\/redfin-ceo-glenn-kelman-on-the-cash-buyer-advantage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cash buyers<\/a> \u2013 up to 23% of all buyers compared to 16% a year ago,\u201d Kan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, due in part to the <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.housingwire.com\/articles\/biden-renews-foreclosure-ban-one-last-time\/\">foreclosure moratorium still in place<\/a> in July, distressed sales, encompassing foreclosures and short sales, represented less than 1% of sales, equal to the percentage seen in June and equal to July 2020, NAR said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Existing-home sales grew by 2.0% in July from the month prior, but first-time homebuyers are still getting squeezed by high prices and cash offers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29297,"featured_media":4822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1672],"class_list":["post-2455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - 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