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Brian C
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 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:33 pm GMT Post subject: 2008 MAR Study |
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Taken from the MAR release:
http://www.marealtor.com/content/NewsTicker.htm?view=38&news_id=908&news=31
| Quote: | The median age of home buyers in Massachusetts in 2008 was 39 years old, which was the same as last year. The median income (which is reported from 2007 household data) was up to $88,100 compared to $84,400 in 2006.
The median age of the first-time home buyer was 31, which was down from 32 years of age in 2007. Fifty-three percent of first-time home buyers were between 25 and 34 years old. First-time home buyers accounted for 48 percent of recent home purchases and had a median income of $80,600 compared to $60,600 among first-time home buyers nationally.
Despite the credit issues in 2008, 90 percent of buyers financed their home purchase (98 percent of first-time buyers compared to 82 percent of repeat buyers). Savings was the chief source of the downpayment for 74 percent of first-time buyers.
The median age of the home seller was 47 years (which is up from 43 years in 2007) and they had a median income of $105,500. The typical seller owned their home for seven years.
When it came to selling, 37 percent of home sellers did not reduce their asking price before the home was sold. Recent sellers typically sold their home for 95 percent of the listing price. Thirty-three percent of sellers did offer incentives to attract buyers, most often that assistance was applied to closing costs and home warranty policies. |
Key Points:
- 48% of sales came from FTHB, a increase of 3% over 2007.
- With the median price for Dec 08 $311k, the average FTHB is spending 3.85 their income on housing.
- Since the typical seller owned the house for 7yrs, we are moving into sellers offering houses in the true "bubble years".
Discuss! |
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john p
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Posts: 1820
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:12 pm GMT Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | the average FTHB is spending 3.85 their income on housing |
If this is true, this is kind of interesting. |
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Brian C
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:27 pm GMT Post subject: |
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| john p wrote: | | Quote: | | the average FTHB is spending 3.85 their income on housing |
If this is true, this is kind of interesting. |
Im going to take my statement with a grain of salt because median throughout the year went from $335k to $275k.
From the 2007 MAR report, the median purchase price for FTHB was $243k. Their median income was $73,500 (or 3.3x of income).
I guess we need to wait for the full 08 report. |
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john p
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Posts: 1820
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:50 pm GMT Post subject: |
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Got it.
The other thing to keep in mind is that most of the housing stock outside 495 behaves very differently than those of the typical commuter towns. Further, these "Immune" towns have their own data that is very much different than other areas. It is a weird set of data that needs to be sorted out, I mean Worcester might as well be another State when it relates to housing and incomes. I'm sure you know that but I add that just because I want more people to push the Globe and others to continue to show localities behavior. I want them to also layer in the vertical price structure on top of the geographies so people can understand the behavior of the price points and incomes etc. I think most first time homebuyers are doing their homework and get it. I am also pleased to see that people are taking into account the buying power and economic condition of the different generations i.e. Gen-X, Gen-Y, Baby boom etc.
The wildcard of taxation and inflation is a new dynamic. I mean the gasoline tax they are proposing is heavy duty. Local towns used property value as a basis for taxation, and even if property values go down, they just increase the tax rate. The State is in a different situation in that because it is based on income taxes, if people aren't working, that's less tax revenue and if more are unemployed, the State actually has to pay unemployment. The reason why State's are in deep trouble is that they overspent during the bubble years and the incomes aren't there to cover the waste. If the percentage someone earns goes more to taxes the less they will forecast their wealth gains for the future.
Now, if we get inflation, everything might get dilluted. I think how other currencies, and global commodities respond to the devaluation of the US Dollar will determine the degree of inflation. We might end up with a strong dollar just based on the fact that other nations are even worse basket cases.
The way we're going to get back to equilibrium is when we start to learn how to make more cheaply products that we today import. The only thing I think we've learned how to do more cheaply is growing marijuana. |
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JCK
Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Posts: 559
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| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:42 pm GMT Post subject: |
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John,
I'm thinking the same thing; I'd like to see the "inside 495" numbers broken out separately from Springfield, Worcester, New Bedford, Cape, etc.
Interesting data though. It's clear that FTHB in MA aren't at the state median income. |
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