What Many Buyers Are Doing to Make a Home Purchase Work
(MoneyforAgents.com) – Due to high interest rates, many prospective homeowners are trying to devise innovative ways to save enough cash for their first house.
Last week, the average mortgage rate reached a 23-year high of 7.49%, and the daily rate has risen.
In addition to decreasing the purchasing power of homeowners, high rates have compelled many of them to explore other options like co-buying a property or living with family to save money.
According to a news release that accompanied the company's most recent consumer sentiment survey, Doug Duncan, Chief Economist at Fannie Mae, "mortgage rates persistently over 7% appear to be deepening the malaise consumers feel about the home purchase market."
"In fact, high mortgage rates surpassed high home prices as the top reason why consumers think it's a bad time to buy a home, a survey first," Duncan stated.
Consumers anticipate higher mortgage rates and costs.
According to the September Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index, customers are becoming less and less enthusiastic about becoming homeowners.
It's an all-time low for the study, with only 16% of respondents saying it's an excellent time to buy, down from 18% in August.
Similarly, only 17% of consumers hold out hope that mortgage rates will drop over the next 12 months, but 46% of purchasers anticipate rate increases.
In addition, 42% of respondents anticipate higher housing prices, while 23% anticipate lower prices.
According to Fannie Mae, growing concerns about losing one's job and decreasing household income are correlated with pessimism about the real estate market.
For example, the percentage of customers who worry about losing their employment increased slightly from 22% to 23%. Additionally, the proportion of respondents reporting lesser income rose from 12% to 13%.
"In our view, all of this points to home purchase affordability remaining a problem for the foreseeable future, which we forecast will keep home sales sluggish into next year," Duncan stated.
Despite the bleak general picture, some purchasers make a house purchase work.
According to a recent Realtor.com poll, while affordability concerns may be weighing on buyers, they have encouraged some to explore unconventional paths to becoming first-time homeowners.
More than half of the respondents who indicated they intended to acquire a home within the next year said they would like assistance from their parents in making the purchase.
About a third of respondents said they live with other family members to save money.
At the same time, another 29% stated they had moved in with their parents to help save for a down payment.
According to the report, most potential purchasers are also amenable to unconventional purchasing agreements.
Eighty-three percent of those surveyed indicated they would consider living with someone other than a husband or partner, like a kid or relative, and co-buying their primary residence.
Hoping to be close to family to share childcare and reduce expenses.
In addition to the short-term savings that living with family provides, many are planning to stay close to family even after they've saved up by purchasing a home nearby their relatives. Twenty-eight percent of respondents who are planning to buy a home in the next year are doing so in part to be closer to their family.
Of those who are planning to buy a home to be close to family, many are motivated by financial reasons and sharing the cost and responsibilities of childcare. Helping care for other children in the family was cited as a top reason by that group (50%), followed by needing affordable help caring for their own children (44%). Other top cited reasons for buying near family were because they liked the area, prices/cost of living have become too high where they currently live, or health issues.
While many would-be buyers are looking to buy a home near their family, many respondents already call their family neighbors, with about 4 in 10 surveyed consumers saying their parents, siblings, extended family or grandparents have purchased a home near them.
Co-buying and living with family longer-term.
As housing affordability continues to be a barrier for many would-be buyers, co-living or co-buying with family has gained significant popularity in recent years. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed would consider buying a home to live in together, as a primary residence, with someone other than their spouse/partner, including an extended family member or friend.
Respondents were most open to buying a home with their child (37%), a romantic partner they're not married or engaged to (31%); a sibling, cousin or other family member from the same generation (27%), and their parents or in-laws (23%).
Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale stated, "Mortgage rates hovering at or near 7% have eroded buyers' purchasing power at a time when the consistently low number of homes for sale has kept housing markets surprisingly competitive."
According to Hale, these "tough market conditions" seem to have altered consumer perceptions of and actions related to homeownership. This involves making a lot of prospective homeowners think about "alternative living situations they may not have considered in the past."
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