Daily Market Update: More than half of millennials move back in with their parents

More than half of millennials move back in with their parents… Bill could be bad news for condo owners… House price growth increases in last quarter of 2014…

More than half of millennials move back in with their parents
Recent research into “boomerang millennials” who move out of their parents homes only to move back in again has been examined by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to assess the potential impact on the housing market.

The original study by Judith Dey and Charles Pierret revealed that 90% of those born between 1980 and 1984 left home by the time they were 27 but more than half returned to their parents’ homes.

Those with a bachelor’s degree or higher and those whose parents were in higher income demographics were more likely to return home than those of lower education or lower-income households. Men are more likely than women to not leave home although women are more likely to ‘boomerang’.

“Understanding the makeup of those who return home could shed light on the timing of the release of what we know is quite a bit of pent-up demand,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “The data may indicate that while this age group is delaying what we think of as typical milestones, the combination of resources and education and what we have found about their preferences suggest growing housing demand in the years ahead.” Read the full story.
 
Bill could be bad news for condo owners
A new bill could make it harder for condo owners in Colorado to sue over faulty construction. Advocates of the changes say that developers are being put off building condos because of the level of liability and additional insurance premiums.

Condos accounted for 20% of new starts a decade ago according to Metrostudy but now they are less than 3% of the new developments. There is demand for units in the market but little supply.

One of the key changes that is proposed by lawmakers is that arbitration should be the preferred option for any disputes over faulty construction and that the majority of owners in a condo association would have to agree before legal action could be considered.

Opponents say this removes the right to have a matter decided by a court of law. Read the full story.

 House price growth increases in last quarter of 2014
Most metropolitan areas experienced moderate price growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to low interest rates and an improving labor market coupled with lower supply.

The latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors shows that the median existing single-family home price increased in 86% of markets; in the previous quarter the figure was 73%.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist said that while the climate is good for sellers, it is less so for buyers: “Home prices in metro areas throughout the country continue to show solid price growth, up 25% over the past three years on average,” he said. “This is good news for current homeowners but remains a challenge for buyers who are seeing home prices continue to outpace their wages.”

The national median existing single-family home price in the fourth quarter was $208,700, up 6% from the fourth quarter of 2013 ($196,900). For all of 2014, the median price increased 4.8% in the third quarter from a year earlier; 4.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier; and 8.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier.