Tucson Offers Affordable Home Ownership
In Tucson, although the Median sales price increased 11.1 percent to $250,000 for Single Family and 8.5 percent to $157,375 for Townhouse/Condo it is still one of the most affordable places in the nation of own a home.
CoreLogic actually breaks it down by a typical mortgage payment. The June report shows that the typical mortgage payment is $878. That’s less than it was last June, and it was less than it was in January of 2000. It’s more affordable to purchase a home now than it was before the boom and the bust. But, this will not last long and economists predict interest rates will tick up some. But, still, that typical mortgage payment is going to be less money than it was in June of 2018 and, again, in January 2000.
So, what are we saying? Prices are going up. But, because interest rates are going down or staying down and wages are going up, what we can see is we’re in good shape from an affordability standpoint.
Benefit Of Homeownership
Frank Nothaft, the Chief Economist for CoreLogic commented, “Borrower equity rose to an all-time high in the first half of 2019 and has more than doubled since the housing recovery started. Combined with low mortgage rates, the rise in home equity supports spending on home improvements and may help improve balance sheets of households who could take out home equity loans to consolidate their debt.”
Low Rates and Real Estate, a time to buy?
Quick Answer: Yes, mortgage rates are low. Buying buying a home in Tucson home when reviewing the historical data shows an increase in the median sales price.
Let’s take a look at home equity by state. As mentioned in the interview with Frank Nothaft, the Chief Economist for CoreLogic, the salt tax adjustments, a few states were affected rather dramatically on home appreciation. In the other 47 states, home equity did increase and, in some states, rather dramatically over a 12 month period. This has had a impact in Tucson with many home buyers moving to our state for due to housing affordability.
When you rent you do not get the benefit of building equity. Taking a look at the chart we can see appreciation. So, even though the prices are moderately appreciating, it means that families are building wealth even with that moderate adjustment.
The median existing-home price for all housing types in August was $278,200, up 4.7% from August 2018 ($265,600). August’s price increase marks the 90th straight month of year-over-year gains.
