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First-Time Buyers Remain Key to Housing Recovery
Posted On: 01/04/2012First-time homebuyers accounted for 37 percent of the homebuying market last year, according to the 2011 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. While down from 2010’s tax-credit-incentivized record high of 50 percent, the recent NAR survey shows that first-time buyers remain an important part of the housing recovery.
According to the survey, the median age of first-time buyers was 31, and the median income was $62,400, up from $59,900 in the 2010 survey. The typical first home was 1,570 square feet, cost $155,000, and it had an estimated monthly mortgage principal and interest payment of $794.
Naturally, repeat buyers were older, earned more and sought out larger, pricier homes.
The typical repeat buyer was 53 years old, earned $96,600 – up from the $87,000 median in the 2010 profile – and purchased median 2,100-square-foot home costing $219,500, with an estimated monthly payment of $1,006.
Overall, the media down payment for buyers was 11 percent of the home-purchase price, ranging from 5 percent for first-time buyers to 15 percent for repeat buyers. According to Paul Bishop, the NAR’s vice president of research, the down payment for both sets of buyers was a full percentage point higher than in 2010, and indication of tighter lending requirements.
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