According to ATTOM Data Solutions This Week in Real Estate buyers who close on a home purchase in October historically realize the best ‘deal.’ Buyer’s counterparts, homeowners, continue to benefit from historically strong price appreciation. The latest CoreLogic Home Price Index revealed the highest 12-month gain in the U.S. index since it began in 1976. Below are a few newsworthy events from the first week of October that influence our business:
October is Ripe for Homebuyers. ATTOM, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its annual analysis of the best time of the year to buy a home, which shows that the month of October, as well as the winter months, offer homebuyers the best deals – fetching lower premiums than other months of the year. According to the analysis, buyers who close in October will get the best deal compared to the spring buying season. While the premium is still above market value, homebuyers are only dealing with a 2.9% premium, as opposed to the month of May, when homebuyers are experiencing an 11.5% premium. This analysis of more than 33 million single-family home and condo sales over the past eight years is evidence of the continuation of a hot sellers’ market.
Expirations Reduce Forbearance Participants by 11 Percent. The number of mortgages in forbearance saw its largest reduction in 12 months last week. Black Knight said 177,000 loans exited the program, many of them having reached the end of the 18 months of reduced or suspended payments allowed for those financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an 11 percent reduction in program participants during the week ended October 5. The company estimates about 180,000 additional plans with September 30 expirations await quarterly reviews as servicers work through the processing of large volumes of loans. Another 420,000 loans are scheduled for extension or removal in October. Many of these half-million loans will be reaching the end of allowable participation and will not be renewed. Black Knight estimates that 1.39 million homeowners remain in the program, 2.6 percent of the 53 million with a mortgage. Last week’s declines bring the total reductions over the past month to 294,000 loans or 17 percent of forbearance volume. Black Knight says this is the fastest rate of improvement since October 2020.
Homebuying Demand Pressures Push U.S. Annual Home Price Gains to All-Time High in August. National home prices increased 18.1% year over year in August 2021, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) Report. The August 2021 HPI gain was up from the August 2020 gain of 5.9% and was the highest 12-month growth in the U.S. index since the series began in 1976. Home price growth accelerated for all four price tiers to the highest rates since the inception of the CoreLogic HPI in 1976. The lowest price tier increased 21.6% year over year in August 2021, compared with 20% for the low- to middle-price tier, 19.9% for the middle- to moderate-price tier, and 18.9% for the high-price tier. While all states showed annual increases in HPI in August, appreciation was strongest in the West. The surge in home price appreciation was felt across the country, with all states showing higher appreciation in August 2021 than in August 2020.
Did you know every home listed for sale with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate is eligible to receive no-obligation home warranty coverage from American Home Shield or 2-10 Home Warranty the first six months the home is listed with our company?
