June 2017

For first-time home buyers, the challenge of coming up with a 20% mortgage down payment is often difficult enough to keep them out of the market. But the fact is, the 20% down payment is all but dead — and has been for quite some time, especially for first-time buyers.

Most buyers make down payments lower than 20%

“It’s been my experience that about half of my clients know that there are loans and/or programs that require less than 20% down,” says Kris Lindahl, a real estate agent in Blaine, Minnesota. “The other half still think that they must have at least 20% down in order to qualify for a home mortgage.”

But most people don’t put 20% down on a home, even though it’s the benchmark most often quoted by lenders and mortgage experts. More than

Home price data for April shows another record high, the fifth consecutive month of new peaks.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index which covers all 9 US census areas hit its highest reading (188.50), rising 5.5% from a year earlier, but easing from the 5.6% gain for March.

The 10-City Composite annual increase was 4.9% (to 197.19), down from 5.2% the previous month; and the 20-City Composite posted a 5.7% year-over-year gain (to 210.64), down from 5.9% in March.

Month-over-month (before seasonal adjustments), the National Index was up 0.9% in April; the 10-City was up 0.8% and the 20-City gained 0.9%. After seasonal adjustments, the National and 10-City readings were 0.2% and the 20-City was up 0.3%.




“As home prices

Lenders are concerned over general economic conditions, and they are easing their credit standards to cope with the anticipated slowdown in market demand.

Fannie Mae said in an outlook report that more lenders expect to implement less stringent standards in the next three months for GSE eligible, non-GSE eligible and government loans as lenders report a drop in purchase mortgage demand.

“The drop in purchase mortgage demand also reflects the latest finding in the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey, in which the net share of consumers who reported that now is a good time to buy a home dropped to a record low,” the government-sponsored enterprise also said.

Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae said, “Expectations

It’s been a year since the start of the Great Recession but it appears that the slow recovery of the US housing market is almost complete.

Most markets have returned to normal according to an analysis by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Its State of the Nation’s Housing report shows that housing demand and prices are rising along with residential construction and the number of distressed homeowners has fallen sharply.

However, it’s not all good news as the well-documented tight supply hindering many markets is hitting affordability and supply of new homes continues to lag demand.

“While the recovery in home prices reflects a welcome pickup in demand, it is also being driven by very tight supply,” says Chris Herbert, the Center’s

Don't hold your breath for a recession anytime soon, says Cushman & Wakefield's global chief economist

Key Takeaways

• Kevin Thorpe, global chief economist at Cushman & Wakefield, thinks there's little cause to worry about a recession in the next couple of years.
• Consumer confidence is high, and although the government is experiencing gridlock in Washington, D.C., Thorpe expects at least a few of President Trump's financial policies to pass.
• There's a labor shortage that's more acute than we've seen in years, and office space is being overbuilt.
  
  

DENVER — “This is going to be the longest economic expansion in the post-World-War-II era,” stated Kevin Thorpe, the global chief economist