Housing-News-Report-December-2017

HOUSINGNEWS REPORT

MY TAKE

CO-BORROWER HEAT MAP Q2 2017 Q2 2017 PRECENT OF SINGLE FAMILY PURCHASE LOANS WITH CO-BORROWERS*

ability to amass their down payments and outpace the rise in incomes, causing these prospective buyers to fall further behind on the treadmill leading to homeownership. Crisis spawns opportunity. The present housing affordability crisis is no exception and many an entrepreneur, myself included, has gone to work to solve the problem for would-be homeowners. Many are working on the supply side, some are working on the policy side to reduce costs of building and increase density and still others are attacking the affordability challenge through other means. One approach that is not new, but is gaining popularity is the notion of buying with others. Some call it shared equity, some call it co-ownership, co- living, co-housing or co-buying. In fact, Peter Miller wrote an article that first appeared in the August 2017 Housing News Report and is excerpted here that highlighted some equity sharing options putting homes within reach for new homeowners. We are learning from watching and listening to the market. Recent data reported by Attom Data Solutions shows more than 16 percent of all single-family purchases in Q1 2017 were to “co-buyers” — multiple, non- married buyers listed on the sales deed — up from 15 percent in Q1 2016. Similarly, year-over-year growth in the share of co-borrowers – multiple, non-married borrowers listed on the

10.3%

61.0%

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“Crisis spawns opportunity. The present housing affordability crisis is no exception and many an entrepreneur, myself included, has gone to work to solve the problem for would-be homeowners.”

look at price appreciation for the month of September compared to August 2017. Clearly, if housing affordability is an issue today, we are on a trajectory that cannot be supported with current thinking about homeownership. For the past several years, as millennials have been coming of age to buy their first homes, there have been several reasons given why we weren’t seeing typical first time buying activity. There was the fact that living wage jobs were not available to these newly anointed

adults and that student debt was keeping them from amassing a down payment. There was also the theory that this generation was not interested in homeownership. There was a belief that millennials did not want to be tied down by real estate ownership. Alas, these impediments have largely been overcome or refuted. For first time homebuyers especially, supply has become more severely diminished relative to demand during each passing year. The resulting home price increases delay first time homebuyers’

15

DECEMBER 2017 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS

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