First-time homebuyers struggle with high rates, prices
“It really is unfortunate because I believe that owning your own home, especially that first home, is truly the American dream.”
There are 34 article(s) tagged residential real estate:
“It really is unfortunate because I believe that owning your own home, especially that first home, is truly the American dream.”
“Huge increase in April sales from last year,” said Memphis Area Association of Realtors President Scott Bettis in the report. “There was also a sizable jump from March, and we’re now up more than 10% in sales for the calendar year.”
Home sales are down for the third straight year. But with interest rates on the decline, some are hopeful the market stabilizes in 2024.
Local residential real estate brokers say homebuyers should not focus on interest rates but instead focus on the benefits of homeownership.
Suburban home sales dipped in 2022, and new home sales remained low compared to the previous year.
Even as housing prices are rising substantially in some parts of the area, the value of housing in other areas has been stagnant or even falling.
The Memphis area saw a 15.5% increase in average sales price last month compared to a year ago, and Whitehaven’s increase was 80%.
Most suburbs saw more homes sell than the year prior. The seller’s market and low inventory continue to drive prices upward.
The number of homes sold in Shelby, Tipton and Fayette counties last month rose 42% from May 2020. While prices continued rising, so did the number of homes on the market.
The four-bedroom, 2.5-bath house on a quiet Cordova cove not only features a substantial new solar array, but a high-tech home battery designed to keep the power during neighborhood power outages.
It’s not just the simple lines and large, aluminum-framed windows that make this East Memphis home a midcentury modern jewel.
The number of Memphis-area homes sold in April 2021 rose 25.9% compared to April 2020, local Realtors report.
About $4,000 is the projected, monthly rent for each of the two units. But the apartments – if that’s how a buyer uses them – are more than 3,000 square feet each, have luxury finishes, and are nestled in one of the city’s leafiest neighborhoods.
The number of home sales rose 45% from February and nearly 13% from a year ago. But the stat that affects more people the most – the inventory of homes available for sale – remained low at 1,990.
Two extreme lows have turned Memphis into a battleground for would-be homebuyers: Low mortgage interest rates that make borrowing so attractive, and a low number of “For Sale” signs that make finding and grabbing a house so difficult. Experts share their advice.
Cameron Ellis is just 27 years old, but his real estate business called WeOffr buys and renovates about 100 houses a year in Memphis and 20 to 40 annually in Nashville. Plus, Ellis is rapidly buying and renovating multifamily properties in the core city.
Divvy Homes in Shelby County so far has purchased between 40 and 100 homes that were chosen by renters who plan to buy them within three years.
Cassandra Bell-Warren credits her mother and grandmother for the self-confidence and curiosity that has helped her experience the world she never saw from her childhood home in South Memphis.
The residential market in Collierville remains strong and homes are in all stages of construction at Porter Farms, where several builders have worked together for designs that complement each other.
Suburban real estate remained strong in the pandemic as prices increased in the seller’s market. Germantown and Collierville saw a large increase in the percentage of homes sold.
The average price of a house sold in Shelby, Fayette and Tipton counties during November was $217,080, up 10.7% from a year earlier. But the number of houses for sale continues to shrink.
Neither COVID-19 nor the shrinking number of houses on the market prevented home sales in the Memphis area from rising 6.4% in October.
The pandemic, combined with low interest rates, may be fueling home sales. At least among those who have job security.
Following the early shock of COVID-19, the positive July sales reflect acceptance of a "new normal'' in the local real estate market, one Realtor believes.
The real estate industry is deemed an essential business and is still operating during the pandemic. But agents are taking such safety precautions as hosting live, virtual open houses and arranging drive-by closings.
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