“It very much is a tale of haves and have nots,” said Dana Scanlon, a property agent in the Washington area. At this rate, the NAR said, house prices are rising four times faster than median household income. As a result, more and more potential first-time home buyers are finding themselves unable to enter the market. Indeed, the percentage of first-time buyers has dropped to 31 percent of the total in 2020, from 33 percent a year ago, according to the NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun. The boom in demand for second homes is two-fold — as an investment but also as another potential primary residence if the trend towards telecommuting remains.

Source: Manila Times November 22, 2020 23:26 UTC