At the national level, housing affordability fell in December 2021 compared to the previous month according to NAR’s Housing Affordability Index. Compared to the prior month, the monthly mortgage payment increased by 0.5% while the median family income rose modestly by 0.3%.
Apartment demand is still outpacing supply across all classes of apartments and with demand likely to rise, rental prices are also likely to rise.
When looking at the household composition of home buyers today, 60% of all home buyers are married couples, 19% are single women, and 9% are unmarried couples.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate surged to 3.69% from 3.55% the previous week. How will higher mortgage rates affect homebuyers?
The U.S. has been underbuilding housing for more than two decades. The reasons are plentiful: lack of skilled labor, availability and cost of land, local regulations which make building difficult, and the ongoing supply crisis.
Matt Christopherson, Research Analyst, and Sidnee Holmes, Research Assistant, were two of the lead authors of the report. In this conversational Q&A, they provide perspectives on how to use the report, insights into the data and the results they found to be most interesting.
Supply chain disruptions have led firms to lease additional industrial space to use as storage in an attempt to reduce reliance on supplier inventory.
Nearly half a million net new payroll jobs were added in January; that figure is over a million if we include independent self-employed business owners. Such gains also mean that the Federal Reserve will stick to—or even accelerate—its plan to raise interest rates.
Mortgage rates remained unchanged from the previous week at 3.55%. Following the trend of the 10-year Treasury yield, rates took a pause from their recent rally.
A strong and sustained job recovery, years of net domestic in-migration even during the pandemic, and the relative affordability of rental housing in these markets compared to other markets are drawing workers, businesses, and retirees.
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