For the past year you’ve probably heard the media and real estate experts talk about the crash that will follow the first part of the decade’s real estate boom. According to many agents in Missoula county, the higher tiered homes are still selling pretty easily, while the mid to lower-tier homes have a bit of a longer wait when put on the market. The median household income was about $43,262 in 2005 and with more jobs available, more first-time home buyers can afford a higher home value than previously.
The record prices are only the latest reminder that even in a buyer’s market , the cost of homes has for decades outpaced wage growth in the U.S., putting homeownership out of reach for many Americans. My millennial buyers usually ask for two years’ worth of utility payments,†says Joe Rivellino , a real estate professional in the Buffalo, N.Y., area.
The Bend, Portland and Klamath Falls areas are all seeing activity in sales of single family homes, while Salem and Eugene activity tends to come from “move up” buyers. The Riverside couple paid $222,000 in 2004 for a three-bedroom, one-story house on the street where Karie Herber grew up. She was 29 at the time, and Cameron was 30. The price doubled within 18 months.
That’s nearly twice the national increase during the same time. The new HOME homeownership value limits for newly constructed HOME units is 95 percent of the median purchase price for the area based on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single family mortgage program data for newly constructed housing.
Historically low mortgage rates cushioned the blow from rapidly escalating home prices somewhat. Those in the West, where buyers face increasingly expensive homes, are slightly less likely than those in other regions to say it is a good time to purchase a home.