The number of new home purchase mortgages in the U.S. has decreased dramatically over the past decade and thanks to recent research from the Urban Institute, we now know more about the contributors to this trend.
The Institute’s researchers point to two primary drivers: limited credit availability (steadily declining portion of mortgages going to borrowers with credit scores below 750) and a decrease in household formation and homeowner mobility during the recession as borrowers with little equity were locked into their homes. Nationally, only 26 percent of current homeowners are first-time home buyers—the lowest point in recent years, they explained.
VHFA recently expanded its menu of programs to help address the unmet financing needs of first-time and other moderate-income home buyers in Vermont.
Graphic: MetroTrends, The Urban Institute, 3/6/20144, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Association of Realtors, HMDA and the Urban Institute. Includes only first-liens.