NMN: 6 homebuyer attitudes about affording a down payment
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Despite consumer demand for housing remaining high, homebuyers' confidence in their ability to save enough for a down payment fell in the first quarter, with some feeling less positive than others.
Millennials in particular saw declining confidence toward down payment affordability, with only 35% of millennial first-time homebuyers claiming they can afford a down payment, according to ValueInsured, a Dallas-based down payment insurance company. This is down nine percentage points from a year ago.
Housing affordability crisis does not spare homeowners
According to ValueInsured’s Q1 2018 Modern Homebuyer Survey, 62% of interested first-time homebuyers – including 65% of Millennials – who plan to buy “in the near future” are concerned they cannot afford a down payment on a home they would like to live in.
But if you think the affordability challenge is exclusive to non-homeowners who wish to enter the elusive homeownership rank, think again. According to ValueInsured’s latest survey on American homebuyers’ confidence and sentiments, even existing homeowners are not immune.
Can homebuyers today actually afford the homes they buy?
Last week, ATTOM data Solutions, curator of the nation’s largest multi-sourced property database, reported that nearly 1 in 4 (22.8%) of all purchase loan originations in our country now require a co-borrower(s)’ credit to afford the loan approved. Co-borrowers are multiple, non-married borrowers listed on the mortgage. In some of the nation’s top real estate markets – which are coincidentally some of the most expensive with rapidly rising home prices – co-borrower rates are eye-popping: half of all new home loans in San Jose now needs a co-borrower’s credit to satisfy the loan requirement (51%), nearly half in Miami (45%), 39% in Seattle, 31% in Los Angeles and 29% in San Diego.
It begs the question: can these new homebuyers actually afford the homes they buy?