Tag Archives: Zillow

The classic back-and-forth between renting and buying is not expected to cease anytime soon, but there may be a slight improvement in 2016.

The new year is well underway and the mortgage industry can't help but wonder where the best housing markets will be. A Zillow economist predicts a shuffling of cards that will create a new order among the top housing markets of 2016.

Tomorrow all eyes are on the Federal Reserve, and the housing industry could experience a shake not felt in over nine years. The industry has been practically holding their breath anticipating what the Fed may or may not do after the Federal Open Market Committee wraps up its last meeting of the year.

The topic of bubbles forming in the housing market is something that has been thrown around for quite some time. As home prices soar to new heights—with no sign of decline—housing bubbles appear to be popping up in many markets and may be here to stay.

According to Zillow's Negative Equity Report, nearly one million homeowners were able to come out of negative equity in the third quarter, allowing them to sell or refinance their homes prior to the expected interest rate hike later this month.

First-time buyers may want to turn their attentions toward suburbs in 2016. As home prices are showing no signs of slowing down, affordability becomes a larger issue when purchasing a home.

In housing markets where home values are constantly rising, first-time buyers often struggle with coming up with a down payment and end up renting versus buying a home.

Eased credit access is allowing more people to be eligible for mortgage loans, especially among middle-income blacks and Hispanics, but despite the uptick, they still lag behind in the housing market recovery.

Home prices are not the only determining factor when looking at affordable living options. In fact, markets with cheapest homes are not necessarily always the most affordable.

Housing market home values are leveling off, but there are still a few markets that are struggling to escape recession times, according to Zillow's August Real Estate Market Report.