Tag Archives: markets

Move Over California — Midland, Texas is the Hottest Market in America

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Only four California markets made May 2018 list, the lowest since the inception of the index

Santa Clara, CA – June 7, 2018 (PRNewswire) New data from realtor.com®, The Home of Home Search℠, reveals Midland, Texas was the nation’s hottest housing market for the second month in a row. Only four California markets appeared on the monthly list of the nation’s 20 hottest markets in sharp contrast of two months ago when more than half of the hottest housing markets were in California.

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May hotness was well distributed with 9 other states represented in the top 20 list: Texas, Massachusetts, Ohio, Idaho, New York, Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, Washington and Wisconsin. In fact, only two months ago the list was dominated by California markets when the top 10 included: San Francisco; Vallejo, Calif.; San Jose, Calif; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Stockton, Calif. Several of these markets made the list of top areas Californians are looking to leave, released last week.

“The California housing market has been hot for a long time – but may be too hot. Our May hotness index further confirms we’re seeing that as prices in California continue to soar, people are increasingly looking elsewhere,” said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com®. “As we continue into what we expect to be the hottest home-buying season in history, look for a wide variety of locales to remain red-hot.”

Spill-over of demand for more affordable markets is also as evident as ever in the list, with seven Midwest metros in the top 20, the highest since we started tracking. Markets that saw the largest jump in hotness last month were Fort Wayne, Ind. and Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich., which moved up 20 and 16 spots, respectively, since April likely due to their cold climate delaying the start of spring buying season.

Nationally, inventory declined 6 percent year over year in May and increased 6 percent compared to April 2018, according to realtor.com monthly data. Median listing prices only grew 8 percent year over year for the third month in a row, down from 10 percent in February. Part of this deceleration can be attributed to 557,000 new listings hitting the market in May, the highest number since July 2015.

Realtor.com® creates the list by analyzing housing market supply and demand by using realtor.com® listing views as an indicator of demand and median days on market as an indicator of supply.

May 2018 Realtor.com® Hotness Rankings

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** Realtor.com® reviewed listing views by market as an indicator of demand and median days on market as an indicator of supply. This analysis led to the identification of the 20 hottest medium-sized to large markets in the country.

Offering the most comprehensive source of information for-sale MLS-listed properties, realtor.com® tracks national housing trends as well as data for the 500 largest U.S. metros. For May trend data on these markets as well other housing trend data, please visit: realtor.com.

About realtor.com®

Realtor.com®, The Home of Home Search℠, offers the most comprehensive source of for-sale MLS-listed properties, among competing national sites, and access to the information, tools and professional expertise to help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers by making all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com.

Contact:

Lexie Puckett Holbert
lexie.puckett@move.com

Virginia Beach, Memphis and Indianapolis are the Most Affordable Housing Markets for Veterans

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Across 45 major metros, 9% of homes for sale are affordable for veterans, down from 27% in 2012

Seattle, WA – May 25, 2018 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN) — Of the more than 600,000 homes currently listed for sale in the 45 most populous metro areas, only 8.9 percent are affordable to someone earning the local median veteran income, according to a new report by Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. This is down from 27.4 percent in 2012. Every market in Redfin’s analysis posted a decrease in its share of listings affordable to veterans in the last six years.

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“The affordability of VA loans is a major reason why the homeownership rate among veterans has historically been higher than for the general population. But this may be changing,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “Homeownership among active-duty military declined significantly during the housing crisis and remains at historic lows. Veteran homebuyers are battling affordability as the fast pace, high prices and low inventory in today’s market make it hard to compete with all-cash buyers. U.S. housing policy should continue to ensure that the people who serve our country also have the opportunity to invest in our country through homeownership.”

Virginia Beach is the most affordable metro for veterans, with 38.1 percent of homes for sale affordable, followed by Memphis (36.3%), Indianapolis (26%) and Louisville (25.3%).

“Virginia Beach is the San Diego of the East Coast with several bases representing virtually all branches of the military,” said Redfin Virginia Beach agent Jordan Hammond. “For veteran homebuyers transferring to the area, Virginia Beach is the perfect location. Not only is it close to the water and the nation’s capital, but it offers a much lower cost of living than California, where many are moving from.”

San Jose, CA, the nation’s most competitive market, is the least affordable for veterans. Unsurprisingly, many coastal markets, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle, have fewer than 2 percent of listings within the reach of veterans.

Below is a ranking of metros according to the percentage of homes affordable for veterans.

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To read the full report, with with a complete methodology and data set, as well as a discussion of the relatively worse housing affordability for female veterans, please visit www.redfin.com.

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $60 billion in home sales.

LendingTree Ranks Most Competitive Homebuyer Markets

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LendingTree Study Reveals Where Homebuyer Competition is Toughest Based on Down Payment Percentages, Credit Scores and Pre-Approved Financing

Charlotte, NC – Jan. 18, 2018 (PRNewswire) LendingTree®, the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, has released the findings of its study on where homebuyers will face the fiercest competition to achieve their dream of homeownership in 2018.

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We’ve been hearing for years about competitive housing markets, but with low levels of housing inventory and rising home prices, almost any market can be competitive. What it really comes down to is the competition among buyers. That’s why LendingTree ranked the top 100 Most Competitive Homebuyer Markets based on the house hunters who are putting more money down, have high credit scores and start loan shopping before home shopping.

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LendingTree looked at 1.5 million purchase mortgage loan requests that came through the LendingTree marketplace in the 100 largest cities in 2017. The study ranks cities using three criteria:

  • The share of buyers shopping for a mortgage before identifying the house they want. Buyers with financing in place are more appealing to sellers and can compete with cash buyers.
  • Average down payment percentage. Having a higher amount of money saved for a down payment can enable you to borrow more money or be offered a lower interest rate, allowing you to make a stronger offer.
  • Percentage of buyers who have prime credit (above 680). Borrowers with higher scores have more financing options to make more competitive offers. The cities/markets below are ranked for 2018 using the criteria noted above, including the relative data used to determine the ranking along with the market’s overall rank from the prior year.

Key Findings:

California markets dominate the top 10.

Six of the top 10 most competitive housing markets are in California. San Francisco and San Jose lead the rankings in 2018, with a vast number of credit-worthy and well-heeled borrowers making it one of the most challenging markets for prospective home shoppers.

Some 60 percent of home shoppers applied for a mortgage before identifying a house. The two cities also came to the table with the highest average down payment of any region, at 19 percent. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Bay Area shoppers had prime credit scores, above 680.

Tech industries are key.

The strength in the Bay Area may be attributed to the concentration of high-paying technology jobs. This also applies to Seattle, which came in at No. 7, and Portland at No. 9.

Go west. When you get to the water, keep going.

The top 10 are all in western states. If you go further west you get to Honolulu, another top 10 city. The rest of the country comes into play with Boston at No. 11, also a technology hub.

The opposite to being the most competitive is not a bad thing. Here are the most accessible cities:

At the other end of the list are three cities where less than half of home shoppers apply for their mortgage before house hunting; the average home shopper offers a down payment of just 12 percent and less than 40 percent of shoppers have prime credit scores. This is great news for buyers in Youngstown, Ohio, McAllen, Texas, and Scranton, Pa., and other accessible cities, which are often in rustbelt and southern states, as homeownership is accessible to a larger part of the population.

Regardless of the level of competition in your area, being a well-prepared buyer increases your odds of securing that dream home. The most significant of the three variables is having financing in place, giving homebuyers a leg up on the competition and reducing delays in the process. Buyers with less cash available for a down payment or those with less than perfect credit should start the loan process even earlier to get pre-approved before house hunting. Homebuyers across the credit or down payment spectrum should check their credit scores beforehand, know what they can reasonably afford, and shop around for multiple loan offers since interest rates vary between lenders – regardless of whether they are in the hottest, or most accessible housing markets in America.

For more information on the study, click here.

About LendingTree

LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) is the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, empowering consumers as they comparison-shop across a full suite of loan and credit-based offerings. LendingTree provides an online marketplace which connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business, as well as an array of online tools and information to help consumers find the best loan. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 65 million loan requests. LendingTree provides free monthly credit scores through My LendingTree and access to its network of over 500 lenders offering home loans, personal loans, credit cards, student loans, business loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans and more. LendingTree, LLC is a subsidiary of LendingTree, Inc. For more information go to www.lendingtree.com, dial 800-555-TREE, like our Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter @LendingTree.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Megan Greuling
(704) 943-8208
Megan.greuling@lendingtree.com