Single Female First Time Home Buyers Increase to 2011 Levels:

The National Association of Realtors® 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which also identified numerous current consumer and housing trends, including: mounting student debt balances and smaller down payments; increases in single female and trade-up buyers; the growing occurrence of buyers paying the list price or higher; and the fact that nearly all respondents use a real estate agent to buy or sell a home, which kept for-sale-by-owner transactions at an all-time low of 8 percent for the third straight year.  Here are some key highlights from the report:

Single females make up larger share of sales:
Solid job prospects, higher incomes and improving credit conditions translated to continued momentum in the growing share of single female buyers. At 18 percent (matches highest since 2011), single women were the second most common household buyer type behind married couples (65 percent). Furthermore, single women purchased slightly more expensive homes than single men despite earning less. The overall share of single male buyers (7 percent) remained below unmarried couples (8 percent) for the second straight year.

Age of first-timers stays flat; climbs to new survey high for repeat buyers:

For the second straight year, the median age of first-time buyers was 32 years old. First-time buyers had a higher household income ($75,000) than a year ago ($72,000) and purchased a slightly smaller home (1,640-square-feet; 1,650-square-feet in 2016) that was more expensive ($190,000; $182,500 in 2016). Fewer first-time buyers purchased a home in an urban area (17 percent; 20 percent in 2016).

The age of repeat buyers increased to an all-time survey high this year (54 years old; 52 years old in 2016) as older households, perhaps with plans to stay in the workforce longer but with an eye towards retirement, felt more comfortable about buying. Overall, repeat buyers had roughly the same household income than last year ($97,500; $98,000 in 2016) and purchased a 2,000-square-foot home (unchanged from last year) costing $266,500 ($250,000 in 2016).

Nearly all buyers choose a single-family home in a suburban location:

A majority of buyers continue to choose a home in a suburb, small town or rural area (85 percent) as opposed to an urban one (13 percent; 14 percent in 2016). Eighty-three percent of buyers purchased a detached single-family home, which for the third straight year remains the highest share since 2004 (87 percent). Purchases of multi-family homes, including townhouses and condos, were at 11 percent.

Supply scarcity leads to increase in buyers paying list price or higher:

Underscoring the supply and demand imbalances prevalent in many parts of the country, 42 percent of buyers paid the list price or higher for their home, which is up from a year ago (40 percent) and a new survey high since tracking began in 2007. Buyers in the West were the most likely (51 percent) to pay at or above list price.

Source: Realor.org 

How Many Hours do Americans Need to Work to Pay their Mortgage?:

The visualization uses data from the U.S. Census for household income and Zillow for median home listing price, while calculating mortgage payments based on a standard 30-year term.

With about 170 hours in a normal work month, the worst is in New York City and Los Angeles, where at least 65% of income is going towards housing.

But in a city like Memphis, TN it takes only 18.4 hours of work a month to pay down the average mortgage. That’s equal to only about 10% of monthly household income.

The red bars represent places where you have to work the most hours to keep the roof over your head. In cities like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco, you put in more than 100 hours to make enough money just to pay for housing. That’s longer than two-and-a-half weeks, meaning well over 50% of your take-home pay! Not surprisingly, unaffordable places are all located on the either coastline. In fact, 8 of the 10 most expensive places are all located in California

Home Sellers Are Making Bank in Today's Market

Home sellers are making bank in today's market, realizing an average profit of 24.1 percent, or $39,900, in 2016, according to a recent study.

Sellers on the West Coast—where home prices have skyrocketed since the recession—saw higher returns. Sellers in Oakland, California took home the highest profits at 78 percent, or $235,000.

Duration is key. The average seller turning a $39,900 profit, the analysis shows, held on to their home for seven years and five months. The average seller in Oakland hung on to their home for seven years and three months.

The top 10 markets: 

City Median Years Owned Dollar Gain on Sale Annual Dollar Gain on Sale Percent Gain on Sale Oakland, CA 7 years, 3 months $235,000 $33,913 78.0% Portland, OR 9 years, 1 month $145,026 $16,714 64.7% San Jose, CA 9 years, 8 months $271,150 $30,562 56.5% Denver, CO 7 years, 7 months $119,500 $18,162 56.0% Los Angeles, CA 9 years, 8 months $200,000 $23,200 53.7% Sacramento, CA 6 years, 11 months $82,500 $12,000 53.6% Seattle, WA 9 years, 2 months $185,000 $20,840 53.1% Philadelphia, PA 7 years, 11 months $40,225 $4,194 51.7% New Orleans, LA 8 years, 7 months $81,000 $10,475 51.5% Boston, MA 7 years, 10 months $182,500 $25,036 49.6%

"The housing market can change a lot in 10 years, and you see that reflected in this top 10 list," says economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. "Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions people will make in their lifetime, and it really paid off for sellers in these cities. Every city on this list has been growing extremely fast over the past decade, with the majority passing peak home value hit during the housing bubble."

The ability to amass wealth over the long term makes real estate the No. 1 investment for most Americans, despite proven results from stocks and other vehicles.

"It's extremely difficult to time the market, but if you're a longtime homeowner in one of these cities, you could potentially see a great return on your investment," Gudell says. 

Home Purchaser's Sentiment Matches All-Time High:

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased 0.3 points in September to 88.3, matching the all-time high set in June.

The rise can be attributed to increases in three of the six HPSI components. The good time to buy component rose the most month-over-month, with the net share increasing 10 percentage points compared to August. Renter respondents, in particular, buoyed the net good time to buy component, showing a substantial upward change in optimism in September. The net share who reported that now is a good time to sell a home rose 2 percentage points in September and is now up 23 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the net share who said home prices will go up in the next 12 months fell 8 percentage points. Even so, respondents continue to cite high home prices as the most important reason behind the bad time to buy and good time to sell indicators. The net share of those who believe mortgage rates will go down decreased 2 percentage points. Americans also expressed a slightly increased sense of job security, with the net share who say they are not concerned about losing their job increasing 1 percentage point. Finally, the net share of consumers who reported that their income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago fell by 1 percentage point.

“The biggest driver for the increase in the HPSI is the rebound in the good time to buy sentiment, which outweighed the largest drag—a sizable reduction in the net share of consumers expecting home prices to rise over the next year,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.

Duncan also said that the “details in the survey showed a meaningful pickup in the good time to buy component, especially from the renter respondents. Additionally, perceptions of easing inventory helped boost the net share saying that now is a good time to buy, which is consistent with less bullish home price appreciation sentiment during the month. Overall, we believe that the devastating impacts of the hurricanes will likely weigh on home sales in coming months, posing downside risks for our forecast, which already calls for only a modest gain in home sales this year.”

You can read the official release from Fannie Mae here.