SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Tight credit keeping first-timers from buying homes
Aug 25, 2011, 10:35 AM | Updated: Mar 4, 2016, 5:59 am
After months of looking at homes and being outbid at least 15 times, first-time home buyers Lance Thorson, middle, and Kelli Thorson, right, with 2-year-old daughter Mia, are now making offers on houses before they even see them. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
The number of first-time buyers has declined in recent months, according to the latest National Association of Realtors’ confidence index.
Normally, first-time buyers make up approximately 40 percent of the existing home sales market. Now, that percentage is in the low thirties.
The change in market participation by first-time buyers seems to be reflective of the current unrealistic level of credit requirements by lending institutions, the survey revealed.
Many Realtors noted in their responses to the survey that banks just aren’t lending to many credit-worthy clients. There is an unrealistic level of risk aversion on the part of many financial institutions, NAR reported.
