The Year of the First-Time Buyer

Due to pent-up demand, NerdWallet predicts that first-time homebuyers will dominate the market in 2019.

Eighty percent of growth in home sales over the past three years has come from first-time buyers, according to Tian Liu, chief economist for Genworth Mortgage Insurance. That trend isn’t predicted to change anytime soon.

Other 2019 trends, such as the easing of lending standards, a higher number of adjustable-rate mortgages, fewer bidding wars, smaller new homes, and slowing price growth all spell opportunity for a host of first time buyers who may have been delaying homeownership for years.

At the same time, NerdWallet does predict that in some areas new housing will still be in short supply, and that prices and mortgage rates will continue to rise, albeit slower than in 2018.

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