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13 for ways to incentivize buyers. One of my buyers recently purchased a condo, and we got the seller to give them 3% of the list price back in cash. My buyer used 2% of that to buy down their mortgage rate." "ere's a ton of demand for afford- able suburban homes, but the super high end isn't in demand," said Chicago Redfin agent Dan Close. "Property taxes are very expensive here, so buying a $2 million home isn't practical for most people." SELLERS HAVE BEEN SLOWER TO RETURN THAN BUYERS Even though homebuyer demand is improving, the main factor driving bidding wars is low inventory. Would-be sellers are more sensitive to elevated rates because 85% of mortgage holders have a rate far below today's level of roughly 6%. is "lock-in" effect and still-high rental prices are motivating many potential move-up buyers to become landlords instead of home sellers. e measure of people contacting Redfin agents to sell their home has improved slightly; it's up 10 percentage points from the November trough. But there hasn't yet been a significant boost in listings nationwide. New listings fell 18% year over year during the four weeks ending January 22. at's the smallest de- crease in almost three months, but much steeper than the 8% decline a year earlier. Redfin agents have observed in their conversations with homeowners that there's fear around listing at a time when home-price growth has been shrinking and buyers are regaining power. "Sellers are jumping on the first viable offer because they've heard from the me- dia, friends, and family that the housing market is slowing," Edwards said. "It all feels very urgent. We prioritize educating sellers in real-time, so they understand how the market dynamics are shifting, with more buyers now coming back." e market will likely see more sellers return as homebuyer demand increases and price growth stabilizes—especially given that there's pent-up supply from sellers who delisted their homes in the fall when the market was slowing. NEW-TO-CREDIT CONSUMERS MAY BE BETTER RISK THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT First-time credit users, also known as new-to-credit (NTC) consumers, are just as much of a risk as consumers with an estab- lished credit history—if not a little better— according to new data from the credit bureau, TransUnion. A global study, entitled "Empowering Credit Inclusion: A Deeper Perspective on New-to-Credit Consumers." provides reassuring hard data to lenders in both the established and developing credit markets so they can extend additional credit products to these consumers without a corresponding rise in delinquency rates. Covering not only the U.S., but Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, and South Africa, the study focused on subjects who had no prior credit history with the bureau when they opened their first-ever line of credit and continued examining their behaviors and performances for the following two years. "A particular focus around the topic of financial inclusion is credit inclusion—the ability of consumers to access traditional lending products, such as credit cards, mort- gages, and personal loans. ese products serve as a means to financial mobility for consumers and can be a gateway to a better quality of life, enabling homeownership, business formation, and wealth creation," said Charlie Wise, co-author of the study and Head of Global Research at TransUnion. "e more consumers who can participate in credit markets in a region, the greater the opportunities for broad economic inclusion. e data from our study demonstrate that new-to-credit consumers are often good risks who are hungry for credit and will show loy- alty to those financial institutions that offer them their first credit accounts." In the U.S. alone, 5.8 million consumers opened their first-ever line of credit in 2021, made up largely of the Gen Z generation at 59%, followed by millennials at 21%, Gex X at 12%, followed by 7% of baby boomers. e study found overall that these consumers were generally good risks when compared to a counterpart with an established file. e study also found that the most com- mon type of credit line NTC consumers took out was a credit card, not only in the U.S. but in other countries as well. "In nearly every region, depending on risk tier or time period of origination, instances occurred in which NTC borrowers had lower delinquency rates on newly opened credit cards than established borrowers," said the study. "In the U.S., on subsequent credit card originations after opening their first account, NTC consumers had slightly higher delin- quency rates than credit-served consumers in the same near prime and prime score ranges, though the differences are small enough to make the NTC segment a potentially attractive segment for lenders looking for profitable growth." Further, the study found that new and unforeseen expenses were the primary driver for opening a line of credit. A majority of NTC consumers across all regions, with the exception of India, reported receiving a credit product at the first institution where they applied—without needing to go to multiple lenders. In the U.S., 54% of NTC borrowers reported receiving a credit product from the first institution where they applied. "It's clear that new-to-credit borrowers around the globe and in the United States will play a large role in the growth of many lenders' books of business," said Michele Raneri, co-au- thor of the study and Head of U.S. Research at TransUnion. "Banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions who use alternative data while providing products, channels, and a positive onboarding process, will likely be the ones who succeed in building loyalty with this segment of the population." Journal