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Homeownership Outpaces Rental Households

The number of owner occupied households has been lower-than-normal for several years. Following the housing crash, homeownership took a hit and, for many years afterward, trailed behind rental households in terms of growth. In short, more people were choosing to rent and the overall homeownership rate began a decade long retreat from its all-time high set in 2004. But, though the homeownership rate fell, Americans still consistently expressed a desire to own their own home. That there was a large majority of people who said they wanted to buy but were holding off meant, one day, that pent-up demand would result in a spike in home buyers. Now, according to new numbers from the Census Bureau’s Homeownership and Vacancy Survey, owner occupied households grew faster than rental households for the first time in 11 years during the first quarter of this year. This is significant because it may signal that more Americans are finally realizing their dream and becoming homeowners. Though encouraging, however, the uptick had little effect on the overall homeownership rate, which was unchanged from the previous quarter and has been relatively flat for a while. More here.

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What Does It Mean When A Home’s Sale Is Pending?

There are steps to buying a home. You don’t just find a house, make an offer, and move in as soon as it’s accepted. In fact, though having an offer accepted is a big step, it’s really just the first of the closing process. There are many things that need to be done before your accepted offer becomes a final sale. During this process, the house you’ve chosen is off the market but not officially sold. Until you’ve got keys to the house, it’s considered a pending sale or under contract. Pending sales are important because they can be a good indicator of where home sales are headed. Because of this, the National Association of Realtors keeps track each month of the number of homes that are under contract as a way of watching what’s ahead for the market. For example, the NAR’s most recent Pending Home Sales Index was virtually flat from the month before. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, says the results show that low inventory may be holding home sales back. “Home shoppers are coming out in droves this spring and competing with each other for the meager amount of listings in the affordable price range,” Yun said. In other words, what we can learn from how many pending sales there were in March is that buyers should be prepared to move fast this spring and sellers should expect to find favorable conditions. More here.