Home prices are being driven up quicken than income by an low mortgage rates, an improving labor market, and loose credit standards, but some believe this is not a sustainable approach to homeownership. The American Enterprise Institute's First-Time Buyer Mortgage Share Index found that first-time buyers accounted for 56 point 4 percent of primary owner-occupied home purchase mortgages with a government guarantee in September 2015, up from last years' total of 54 point 4 percent.
The Combined FBMSI, which measures the share of first-time buyers for both government-guaranteed and private-sector mortgages, reached approximately 52 point 8 percent, up from 51 percent last September. First-Time Buyer Mortgage Risk Index stood at 15 point 47 percent in September, up 1 point 1 percentage points from a year earlier.
Homebuilders' confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes rose in October, returning to a level not seen since the end of the housing boom in 2005. According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, builder confidence in this market increased three points to 64 in October.