Elena Zimina's Real Estate

GENERATION Z: THE FUTURE OF HOMEOWNERSHIP Source: DS News Homeownership has been declining, particularly among millennials. While this has taken place, rental household formation has been increasing, with millennials making up a large share of this growing population. But what about the generation that follows behind millennials? What are those from Generation Z, or those born after 1996, planning when it comes to becoming future homeowners? Ninety-seven percent of Generation Z believe that they will own a home in the future, according to Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, and 82 percent indicate that homeownership is the most important factor in achieving the American Dream.

HOMEOWNERS TWICE AS RICH AS FIVE YEARS AGO  Source: CNBC   After hitting bottom in 2012, home prices took off dramatically before leveling off a bit in mid-2014. In the last two months, though, they turned higher again. The amount of equity homeowners now have — the value outside their mortgage debt — has doubled in the last five years, according to CoreLogic. September home prices showed a 6.3 percent annual gain, slightly more than in August and a clear sign that prices are heating up again after cooling through much of spring and summer. CoreLogic’s chief economist said that home equity wealth has doubled during the last five years to $13 trillion, large because of the recovery in home prices. While homeowners today show more wealth on paper, they are not extracting it at nearly the rate they did during the last housing boom. Near-record-low mortgage rates have certainly prompted thousands of borrowers to refinance and lower their monthly payments, but a very small share have