On realtor.org, Gary Thomas posted quite the blog for thought. In the article “What Do Today’s Home Buyers Look Like?” he relayed some interesting statistics regarding today’s homebuyers, which was presented at the recent National Association of Realtors Conference. Some that stuck out to me personally was that fact that home buyers are now older than past years, have higher incomes, and are more likely to be married. This made me curious, if these are the overall statistics, where do the home buyers in Mooresville, more particularly the neighborhood I live in, stand in this equation.
With a simple zip code search on Market Insider I searched the area I live and found that the stats are not too far off. According to Thomas’ article, the median age of home buyers rose from 39 to 43. Not drastic, yet, but could definitely be an issue in the future. Another interesting statistic was concerning the number of married couples buying homes, which rose 6 percent, while purchases by singles and unmarried couples were slightly down.
In the particular zip code I live in the median age was 39, showing that the Mooresville area hasn’t increased or decreased from the nationwide statistics from last year. The percentage of married couples buying homes was at 55 percent. In addition, the market share for first-time home buyers fell to 37 percent in the past year, which is down from a record high of 50 percent in 2010.
Between homebuyers being older and more married couples buying homes this highlights something very important – a joint income is now needed to buy the dream home. Thomas believes the older buyers and lack of single home buyers is in relation to the difficulty of qualifying for a loan. “This is due to an overly restrictive mortgage credit environment,” said Thomas, “in spite of plenty of affordable housing.” Between the difficulties of getting a loan and the difficulty of finding a high paying job, or job in general, leaves younger people at an overall disadvantage.
As for the average income in Mooresville, the city was also average range. As stated previously, home buyers now make a higher income. According to the Market Insider, people in the particular Mooresville zip code I searched have a household income of $75-100K. This is out of roughly 2,600 households. In a close second were people with a household income with $50-$75.
Therefore, just because statistics may be increasing nationwide, doesn’t necessarily mean that the area you live in, or the area you hope to move to, is experiencing a drastic change. Do a little research in your area, and see where your city stands.
About Ann Stiles
Ann Stiles is a real estate broker for Wilkinson and Associates. She began by selling homes in New York and has over 29 years of experience in real estate. After relocating with her family to North Carolina in 2008 she continued her passion for real estate. She currently resides in the Trump National Golf Club Community in Mooresville, NC with her husband and five children.
For more information visit: http://astiles.wilkinsonandassociates.com/
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