Real Estate Market Trends

If you have the impression that home prices are rapidly approaching unaffordable levels, then we have some information that should make you feel better. While there is no doubt that price growth in the last couple of years has been stellar, homes remain far more affordable now than they were during the height of the housing bubble. In fact, the average monthly home payment in the first quarter of this year required 36.5% of the average worker's wages, down over 48% from 2006's decade high of 70.7%!

Although millennials (those born between about 1981 and 2001) represent a huge segment of the U.S. population, there is a persistent notion that they are not contributing substantially to the U.S. housing market. Indeed, some spectators have even gone so far as to label them a "generation of renters". However, according to realtor.com's Erik Gunther, this idea is unsupported by the numbers. In fact, older millennials were the largest group of homebuyers in 2014! Keep reading to learn about the millennial housing situation and the top 10 areas attracting millennial buyers.

A recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau has revealed some very good news: new home sales showed strong growth in August, even after an upward revision to the number of homes sold in July! Sales of newly-built, single-family homes rose by a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 552,000 units, representing a 5.7% increase compared to last month. This makes August 2015 the best single month for new home sales since February of 2008!