May 2023 – Page 4

Market firmly in sellers’ favor as rising demand meets low supply

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Sales are ramping up while sellers take another step back The housing market has tilted firmly back in favor of sellers, as steady demand met scarce inventory to drive up home values, according to the latest market report from Zillow®. “Buyers are back on the hunt for houses in what is typically the hottest time of year, thanks to a normal seasonal surge in demand around the end of the school year and some help from slightly lower mortgage rates,” said Jeff Tucker, Zillow senior economist. “Unfortunately, many potential sellers have ghosted the market this spring, concentrating buyer demand on the few listings that do come to market and fueling price growth, especially for more affordable and well-presented houses.” The value of the typical home climbed 1% from March to April, the strongest monthly appreciation since last June and in line with pre-pandemic norms for this time of year. Still, a “normal” springtime sellers season represents a remarkable turnaround from the second half of 2022, which was much cooler than normal as buyers retreated in the face of affordability challenges. Although still 2.2% below their peak last July, typical home values are 1.5% above last April and stand 38% higher than 2020. Increased competition at lower price points is driving far higher annual appreciation for the least expensive houses. From hot to not, and back again — local home value trendsThe relatively affordable Midwest and Great Lakes regions led the nation in appreciation, harboring the top nine major metros for monthly home value gains. Kansas City home values grew fastest for the second month in a row, followed by Columbus, Detroit, Buffalo and Cincinnati. Buyers should expect extremely tough competition in these areas — median time to pending for a new listing in Kansas City, Columbus and Cincinnati is just three days. Home values are down year over year in 22 major markets, most significantly in Austin (-10%), San Francisco (-9.9%), San Jose (-9.5%) and Seattle (-7.5%). But all of these markets posted monthly gains, with San Jose, San Francisco and Seattle outpacing the national average. These West Coast markets experienced some of the biggest contractions in the flow of new listings, helping to explain why their price declines have reversed. The drought of new listings deepensShoppers are seeing fewer fresh listings to tour as sellers have stepped back even further. The flow of new listings to the market decreased in April, defying the normal trend of rising through the spring and deepening the year-over-year deficit in new listings. Total inventory is up just 3% annually and now stands 46% lower than in 2019. Buyers are still scooping up what they can find, but a lack of choices may be holding them back. Newly pending sales rose 2% from March — a smaller monthly increase than historical norms. Affordability is likely to improve, but buyers shouldn’t expect a return to pre-pandemic costsMassive home price appreciation, combined with mortgage rates that doubled in 2022, has made both down payments and monthly mortgage costs much tougher to afford. A new Zillow forecast expects affordability to improve slightly over the next year, but high demand for homes and stubbornly low supply will prevent a return to pre-pandemic norms. Buyers looking for ways to lower costs can use Zillow to check their eligibility for down payment assistance programs and explore whether buying points or negotiating a seller-financed 2/1 buydown makes sense using a new break-even calculator. Rents are firmly back in growth territoryAsking rents climbed 0.6% month over month, a nearly normal monthly growth rate for this time of year. Rents are now 5.3% higher than in April of last year. See Zillow’s Rental Market Report for more details. SOURCE Zillow

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Whether Bidding, Buying, or Just Looking, Homebuyers Show a Bias Toward Action Many hopeful homebuyers – especially those in their 40s and younger – are forging ahead with plans to buy homes despite believing the market favors sellers, according to Bank of America’s 2023 Homebuyer Insights Report. And while more than half of prospective homebuyers surveyed (55%) believe the market is more competitive than last year, just as many (54%) plan to either speed up their home purchases or buy when they originally planned, including 62% of Gen Z and 55% of Millennial homebuyers. Yet not all prospective buyers are jumping in. Two in five surveyed Americans (39%) believe this is a seller’s market, while 18% say it’s a buyer’s market and 31% say it’s neither. Buying challenges included high prices and interest rates (51%); lack of cash reserves for down payments (37%); and low credit scores (37%). Still, nearly 40% of those prospective homebuyers said they feel more confident in their ability to buy a home today versus last year, compared to 26% who are less confident and 28% who feel about the same. “The market is less frenzied as rates have moderated, and that may be impacting perception,” said Matt Vernon, head of retail lending at Bank of America. “And low inventory is still creating a highly competitive environment. Homebuyers are doing the right thing by taking time to understand the market, weigh their priorities and determine what fits into their budgets.” Watch Matt Vernon, Bank of America’s Head of Retail Lending, reflect on the Spring homebuying season learn more about homebuyers’ confidence, timelines, and determination. Financial security is a motivating force, as homeownership has historically helped families build long term-wealth. Despite their younger age, 56% of Gen Z and 56% of surveyed Millennial homeowner hopefuls plan to purchase in the next two years – nearly on par with Gen X (58%). Nearly half (47%) of all prospective buyers say they would buy a home in the current housing market because they are tired of renting and of rent increases, and 28% want to start building equity. Prospective buyers said they’d be willing to put up to 25% of their monthly income toward mortgage payments for a starter home and 30% for a forever home, compared to the 29% they’d be willing to put toward monthly rent. Most prospective buyers plan to purchase a home with a spouse or partner (55%) while 38% say they’re planning to go it alone. Real Estate Curiosity Keeping Those on the Sidelines Active Even hopeful buyers who may be waiting for the housing market to cool are still forging ahead in their own way. More than two-thirds (67%) of prospective buyers are actively looking at homes for sale – whether they’re scrolling through a real estate marketplace app with a certain budget in mind (52%) and/or visiting open house events for fun (31%). Those scanning for homes find it to be an enjoyable pastime (41%), a way to dream about their future home (37%) and a window into how others have decorated their spaces (32%). Beyond simply looking for inspiration, two-thirds (65%) of those who scroll through listings are interested in what their current budget would get them if they were to buy today. Talking with friends and family can also provide first-hand accounts of potential hurdles and valuable resources during the homebuying journey. Most people surveyed say they are comfortable talking with friends about how they came up with their down payment (82%), but only 17% have directly asked a friend how they were able to afford the upfront costs. The sharing of information can be invaluable as only 39% of prospective buyers know how to find down payment assistance programs. Whether it’s a conversation with a friend, family member or a lending specialist, discussing the homebuying process early on can equip hopeful buyers with the know-how they need to feel confident taking the next step. Visit Bank of America’s Home Resource Center to get started with tools and resources on preparing your finances, review available grant programs and more. About Bank of America’s Homebuyer Insights Report Sparks Research conducted a national online survey on behalf of Bank of America between March 29 and April 3, 2023. A total of 1,000 surveys (500 homeowners / 500 renters) were completed with adults age 18+ who currently own a home, previously owned a home or plan to own a home in the future. Survey completions were monitored by gender and age for proper balancing. The margin of error for the total national quota of 1,000 surveys is +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The margin of error for homeowner and renter quotas of 500 surveys is +/- 4.4% at the 95% confidence level. Select questions allowed respondents to choose more than one answer, resulting in responses that may equate to more than 100 percent. SOURCE Bank of America Corporation

ServiceLink Survey Reveals Optimism Among Today’s Homebuyers Despite Challenging Market Conditions

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The 2023 ServiceLink State of Homebuying Report highlights generational preferences and trends from today’s homebuyers Higher home prices and low inventory isn’t deterring the youngest generations from seeking homeownership. A new survey report from ServiceLink, part of the FNF family of companies and the nation’s premier provider of tech-enabled mortgage services, analyzes generational trends among recent homebuyers, their sentiment about today’s housing market and the role technology plays throughout the process. The 2023 ServiceLink State of Homebuying Report (SOHBR) features insights from 1,000 homeowners who either purchased a home, or tried to purchase a home, within the past three years.This comprehensive report examines year-over-year (YoY) trends, generational preferences and other factors that shape the behavior of today’s homeowners and prospective buyers. “Even with the ups and downs in today’s housing market, there is still a strong desire among several generations to obtain homeownership,” said Dave Steinmetz, president of origination services, ServiceLink. “Our latest study suggests there are many homeowners and homebuyers who are ready to make their mark in the real estate market this year; whether it’s to purchase a new home or take out a home equity loan. This indicates there is an opportunity for lenders to provide more education and resources to buyers and homeowners to guide them throughout their homeownership journey.” Key consumer survey findings include: Seeking homeownership: More than half of respondents say they are open to purchasing a home Tapping into equity: Homeowners, especially millennials, plan to take advantage of the increasing value of their home Lingering buyer fatigue: Complicated market conditions are leading some homebuyers to abandon the homebuying process Auction is becoming more mainstream: Homebuyers are considering alternative paths to homeownership Streamlining the process: More homebuyers want to leverage technology to improve the homebuying experience Read the full report here. About ServiceLink ServiceLink is the nation’s premier provider of digital mortgage services to the mortgage and finance industries. ServiceLink leads the way by delivering best-in-class technologies, a full product suite of services and proven experience, built on a foundation of quality, compliance and service excellence. ServiceLink provides valuation, title and closing, and flood services to mortgage originators; and default valuation, integrated default title services, vendor invoicing and claims audit services, as well as field services and auction services to mortgage servicers. ServiceLink helps clients in the lending industry and beyond achieve their strategic goals, realize greater efficiencies, and better serve their customers. For more information about ServiceLink, please visit svclnk.com. SOURCE ServiceLink CONTACT: ServiceLink, Amy Pietzak, 412-298-1995, amy.pietzak@svclnk.com

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Andrew McDonald Appointed to Expanded Role of Global President and COO Transition Culminates a Multi-Year Succession Planning Process Cushman & Wakefield announced that the Board of Directors has accepted John Forrester’s intent to retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the Board of Directors, effective June 30, 2023, following 35 years of service to the company. As part of the Company’s long-standing succession plan, Cushman & Wakefield’s Board of Directors appointed Michelle MacKay, currently President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), to assume the role of CEO as of July 1, 2023. Mr. Forrester will remain employed as a strategic advisor until December 31, 2023. In addition, Ms. MacKay was elected to serve on the Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2023. Brett White will remain as Executive Chairman of the Board. Andrew McDonald, currently President of Cushman & Wakefield, was appointed by the Board to an expanded role of Global President and Chief Operating Officer overseeing all the firm’s service lines and regions. Mr. White, Cushman & Wakefield’s Executive Chairman of the Board, commented: “On behalf of Cushman & Wakefield’s Board of Directors, I thank John for his dedication and service to the firm and to the commercial real estate services industry over his long and distinguished career. John is a revered industry leader known for his integrity, work ethic and deep client knowledge. His tremendous efforts over the past several years have strengthened the firm’s foundation and culture and the Board is sincerely grateful for his contribution.” “It has been an honor to lead Cushman & Wakefield as CEO through its post-Covid transitionary period, which underscored the firm’s industry leadership, our core values and strengths and culminated in record company revenue and EBITDA in 2022,” said Mr. Forrester. “I am proud of our great company and what our Cushman & Wakefield colleagues around the world have accomplished. I have great confidence in Michelle as a proven leader who will offer the firm exceptional vision, strategy and direction for achieving its performance and growth goals.” Mr. White added: “The Board is pleased that Michelle MacKay will succeed John as CEO. Michelle has an impressive track record of creating substantial value for shareholders and clients through her deep expertise in commercial real estate and corporate strategy. In their new roles, the combination of Michelle and Andrew – who also has played a pivotal role in the firm’s profitability, growth and development of new strategic opportunities – creates a formidable leadership team that is uniquely qualified to steer evolution within the commercial real estate services industry. We are confident that their leadership will significantly advance the firm’s operational excellence and ability to deliver long-term growth.” Ms. MacKay commented: “I’m looking forward to leading this great firm through its next chapter of strategic growth. Cushman & Wakefield’s unique entrepreneurial culture and employee expertise position us to not only successfully navigate the current challenges in commercial real estate services, but to also deliver long-term value, profitability and growth. I look forward to partnering with Andrew and collaborating with our teams around the world to amplify our positive impact for clients, shareholders and the cities and communities in which we operate.” Ms. MacKay joined Cushman & Wakefield as a member of its Board of Directors in 2018. Based on the firm’s strategic goals and her related expertise, she was appointed to the position of COO in 2020 and promoted to President and COO on January 1, 2022, with direct operational and management oversight of many of the firm’s service lines and regions, including the EMEA region, Global Occupier Services and C&W Services. A seasoned commercial real estate executive with more than 30 years of experience at a variety of public and privately held companies, Ms. MacKay has served on three public company boards, including Cushman & Wakefield’s from 2018 to 2020, and is renowned for unlocking value for real estate assets and companies. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President, Investments and Head of Capital Markets at iStar, Inc. a real estate investment trust (REIT) company (which has since merged with Safehold Inc.). She also has significant capital allocation and financial institution expertise, having served in leadership roles at UBS (previously Paine Webber), JPMorgan Chase and The Hartford Insurance Company’s investment arm HIMCO. Mr. McDonald has been with Cushman & Wakefield for more than 20 years, most recently serving as President of Cushman & Wakefield since 2021, leading the firm’s largest business lines in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions. Prior to his role as President, Mr. McDonald held several senior leadership roles at Cushman & Wakefield after a 15-year career as a top brokerage professional, including Chief Executive for the Americas region, President of the Americas West Region and Regional Managing Principal of Southern California for Cushman & Wakefield. About Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global commercial real estate services firm that delivers exceptional value for real estate occupiers and owners. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms with approximately 52,000 employees in over 400 offices and approximately 60 countries. In 2022, the firm had revenue of $10.1 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, and valuation and other services. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com or follow @CushWake on Twitter.

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Equity Remains Historically High in First Quarter of 2023;But Equity-Rich Portion of Mortgaged Homes Dips for Second Straight Quarter as Home Prices Drop Around Most of U.S.;Seriously Underwater Level of Mortgages Virtually Unchanged ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, released its first-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that 47.2 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the first quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than 50 percent of their estimated market values. The portion of mortgaged homes that was equity-rich in the first quarter of 2023 decreased slightly from 48 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022. While that remained close to twice the level of just three years ago, the drop-off in the first three months of 2023 marked the second straight quarterly decline following 10 consecutive gains. The report found that the portion of equity-rich mortgage-payers went down from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023 in 32 states around the U.S. The equity downturn, small as it was, stood as the latest indicator of how a decline in home prices across much of the country has started to affect homeowners following a decade-long market boom. It comes as home-seller profits have slid to their lowest point in two years. Despite the emerging trend in equity-rich mortgages, the report also shows that just 3 percent of mortgaged homes, or one in 33, were considered seriously underwater in the first quarter of 2023. That meant that they had a combined estimated balance of loans secured by the property of at least 25 percent more than the property’s estimated market value. The latest seriously underwater figure was virtually unchanged from 2.9 percent in the prior quarter, and was still down from 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2022. “Homeowners across the U.S. continue to sit in a far better position than they were just a few years ago, with historically elevated levels of wealth built up in their properties. However, the recent downturn in the housing market is chipping away at the bounty they reaped from a decade of price surges,” said Rob Barber, chief executive officer for ATTOM. “Home equity has fallen modestly amid a larger slump in profits homeowners are getting when they sell. It’s still too early to call this a long-term trend, and there are reasons to hope for a market turnaround this year. For now, though, various measures suggest that the best of the boom may be behind us.” Largest declines in equity-rich share of mortgages spread across West The portion of equity-rich mortgages continued to decrease in a majority of states around the U.S. from the fourth of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, commonly by less than two percentage points. The biggest drops again came in the West, which followed a pattern that began late last year. The first-quarter declines were led by Arizona (portion of mortgages homes considered equity-rich decreased from 59.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 56.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023), Nevada (down from 52.3 percent to 49 percent), Idaho (down from 61.6 percent to 58.5 percent), Utah (down from 60.3 percent to 58.1 percent) and Washington (down from 58.5 percent to 56.5 percent). At the other end of the spectrum, the South had four of the five states where the equity-rich share of mortgaged homes increased the most from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year. The largest increases were in New Mexico (up from 45.6 percent to 48.9 percent), Kentucky (up from 37.2 percent to 40.2 percent), Mississippi (up from 33.2 percent to 35 percent), Oklahoma (up from 35.2 percent to 36.4 percent) and South Carolina (up from 48.9 percent to 49.7 percent). Largest increases in seriously underwater mortgages concentrated in Northeast The portion of mortgaged homes considered seriously underwater remained largely unchanged – and historically low – during the first quarter of 2023 in most of the nation, with the biggest increases clustered in the Northeast. States leading those increases included South Dakota (share of mortgaged homes that were seriously underwater up from 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2023), Pennsylvania (up from 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent), Maine (up from 2.2 percent to 2.5 percent), Vermont (up from 0.9 percent to 1.1 percent) and Idaho (up from 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent). States where the percentage of seriously underwater homes decreased the most from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of this year were led by Mississippi (down from 6.8 percent to 5.6 percent), Missouri (down from 7.1 percent to 6.4 percent), Kansas (down from 4.3 percent to 3.7 percent), Louisiana (down from 10.6 percent to 10.4 percent) and New Mexico (down from 3 percent to 2.9 percent). West region continues to benefit from highest levels of equity-rich homeowners Despite seeing some of the largest decreases in equity-rich percentages, the West still had highest levels of such properties around the U.S. in the first quarter of 2023, with seven of the top 10 states. Those with the highest portions were Vermont (75.9 percent of mortgaged homes were equity-rich), Florida (61 percent), California (59.7 percent), Idaho (58.5 percent) and Montana (58.4 percent). Nine of the 10 states with the lowest percentages of equity-rich properties in the first quarter of 2023 were in the Midwest and South. The smallest portions were in Louisiana (24.1 percent of mortgaged homes were equity-rich), Illinois (26.4 percent), Alaska (27.4 percent), West Virginia (29.9 percent) and North Dakota (30.9 percent). Among 107 metropolitan statistical areas around the nation with a population of at least 500,000, the West and South continued to dominate the list of places with the highest portion of mortgaged properties that were equity-rich. All but one of the top 25 were in those regions during the first quarter of 2023, led by San Jose, CA (71.6 percent equity-rich); Sarasota-Bradenton, FL (68.1 percent); Los Angeles, CA (65.4 percent); Miami, FL (65.3 percent) and San Diego, CA (64.8 percent). The leader in the Northeast region again was Portland, ME (59.7 percent) while the top metro in the Midwest continued to be Grand Rapids, MI (49.9 percent). The 10 metro areas with the lowest percentages of equity-rich properties in the first quarter of 2023 were in the Midwest