First time home buyers

writes the Senior Economist for LendingTree

Some recipients of the new multimillion-dollar funding announced this week include several organizations partnering with historically Black colleges and universities.

While the lock-in effect on existing supply has helped drive consumer interest in new construction, first-time buyers have been taking a greater share of that inventory.

The government will also begin allowing mortgage default insurance on homes worth up to C$1.5 million ($1.1 million), an increase from the current cap of C$1 million.

The credit scoring agency will provide an education curriculum to a leading minority trade group, aimed at helping mortgage professionals learn more about financial wellness and help their potential clients attain homeownership.

However, a significant minority, more than one-in-10, stated although they want to buy, they will never be able to afford to do so, Insurify found.

Across the country over the past two years, the share of homes affordable to a first-time home buyer has fallen to 29% from 34% in 1Q23 and 45% in 1Q22, First American Financial said.

The sales pace is now at the low end of the range seen over the past year, suggesting limited momentum amid a lack of affordability.

Federal Housing Administration-backed lending was the only mortgage type to grow in volume at the end of last year, but the pace of decline among originations overall also slowed.

Affordability challenges also have some aspiring homeowners taking second jobs or looking to draw from retirement savings, according to Redfin.

The racial gap in first-time buyers' ability to maintain their status as owners has also narrowed over the last two decades, the agency's researchers reported.

The top 3 cities have an average median listing price of $217,967.

Timothy Harleth is launching Generational Equity Labs, a fund that plans to use a technology platform linking would-be homebuyers to institutions to support equity sharing.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine rolled out the Welcome Home Ohio program, a product of the Ohio legislature's biennium budget bill, House Bill 33.

More than half of millennials and Gen Z ranked house hacking — the opportunity to rent out a portion or the entire property to earn extra income — as an important factor in their search, according to Zillow research.

The bottom five cities in the ranking have an average total score of 30.48.

The top five cities in the ranking have an average total score of 64.5 out of 100.

Designated mortgage professionals who can work in community outreach as well as regular monitoring of program outcomes are also important components that will help programs meet goals, industry leaders say.

Gen Z homebuyers make up a 21.26% share of purchase requests in the top five metropolitan areas.

The program is even lower than Freddie Mac's best of 3%, with Zillow offering to pay 2% of the down payment at closing, according to a statement Thursday.