Homeownership is a key pathway to building wealth and narrowing the racial income and wealth inequality gap. Housing wealth (equity) accumulation takes time, and is built up by price appreciation and paying off the mortgage.
Retail sales recorded a seasonally adjusted total of $618.7 billion in August 2021, a 0.7% increase from July.
NAR expects rates to inch higher, reaching 3.5% by mid-2022 as the Fed will likely start reducing its bond purchases before the end of the year and raising interest rates in mid-2022.
Over the last 12 months consumer prices rose 5.3% compared to 5.4% in both July and June 2021.
Total retail sales continued to steadily increase from the beginning of the pandemic through Q2 2021 as sales increased from $1.3 trillion in Q2 2020 to $1.6 trillion in Q2 2021, for a year-over-year growth rate of 28.2%.
National Association of REALTORS® has created the Homebuilders' Local Opportunity Index (HLOI), which measures both short-term and long-term opportunities for homebuilders at the local level, with the purpose of identifying the areas where homebuilders can build more homes with less risk for their business.
At the national level, housing affordability slightly inclined in July 2021 compared to the previous month.
Housing affordability, the desire to live in less dense areas, and in larger homes with the opportunity to work from home, and the demand from millennials as they start to form households and raise families are important factors that play into the decision of where to live and buy a home.
The National Association of REALTORS® forecasts existing home sales to drop by 10% in the last quarter of 2021.
The demand for apartments continues to heat up, marked by record high absorption and rent growth and low vacancy rate.
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