FHA Trims Waiting Period for Borrowers Who Experienced Foreclosure

Borrowers who went through a bankruptcy, foreclosure, deed-in-lieu, or short sale can now reenter the market in as little as 12 months under a new guideline established by the Federal Housing Administration. The more lenient approval process does have some eligibility requirements, such as documentation of “certain credit impairments” and economic hardship.

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Higher home prices drive down housing affordability during second quarter

Significantly higher home prices, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal regions, shut out more home buyers in the state during the second quarter of 2013, C.A.R. reported this week.

The percentage of home buyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California dropped to 36 percent in the second quarter of 2013, down from 44 percent in first-quarter 2013 and from 51 percent in second-quarter 2012, according to C.A.R.’s Traditional Housing Affordability Index (HAI). The second quarter 2013 figure fell below 40 percent for the first time since the third quarter of 2008.

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Millennials Increasingly Positive about Real Estate

Millennials are increasingly optimistic about residential real estate, according to the most-recent Consumer Outlook Survey by Prudential Real Estate. A full 80 percent of respondents ages 25-34 said their perception of the housing market is “favorable” or “somewhat favorable,” representing a 9 percentage point increase from the Q1 study.

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Homeownership: Where Single Women Prevail

Single women are buying at roughly twice the rate as single men, as they accounted for 16 percent of home buyers last year, while single men accounted for only 9 percent. Men haven’t caught up to women, who began to outpace men in home-buying in the late 1990s. As the primary earners in their households, women more than ever before are the breadwinners with the financial resources to plan for their future.

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Housing market has buyers willing to use 'aggressive tactics'

With inventory tight in hot markets, two-thirds of home buyers increasingly are willing to use “aggressive tactics” to secure the home of their dreams, according to a survey by Trulia. Tactics deemed “aggressive” include paying the seller’s closing costs, bidding above the asking price or borrowing money from relatives to make a down payment.

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