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52 HOMES ARE A BETTER INVESTMENT THAN RETIREMENT SAVINGS Americans want to buy homes and they want to buy them as an investment option. According to a study on homebuyers by NerdWallet, a personal finance website, 75 percent Americans say that buying a home was a priority for them. NerdWallet analyzed data of more than 2,000 adults surveyed, the company's mortgage calculator, data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and other sources to develop the study on current home buying sentiments, concerns, and outlook. e study found that most Americans considered buying a home as a good investment with 64 percent of the people surveyed citing this as a reason to buy a home. And it's not only the older generation that feels this way. Around 56 percent millennials felt that they would rather own a home that appreciated in value than have more money in retirement savings, reflecting the sentiment of 52 percent of the overall people surveyed. Infact, according to the survey, 82 percent millennials said that buying a home was a priority compared with 75 percent of generation X and 69 percent of baby boomers. Millennials also aspired to buy more homes, on average throughout their lifetime and were most likely to say that they would like to buy a home to rent out for extra income. However, the costs for purchasing a home are a top concern for most Americans who rent. ough 91 percent of the people surveyed said that they would like to own at least one home in their lifetime, 88 percent of current renters had concerns about purchasing one due to the financial costs associated with. e survey also found 35 percent reported that they were currently renting their primary residence but only 17 percent said they preferred renting to owning regardless of their current living situation. Renters with home buying concerns also cited the mortgage application process as what kept them from buying a home with 28 percent saying they were concerned about this process. Loan servicing, payments, modification and collections were some of the pet peeves of homebuyers against mortgage lenders. According to the survey that analyzed data from CFPB, approximately 3,338 complaints filed with CFPB related specifically to the mortgage application or underwriting processes in 2017. However, thousands were directly related to getting a mortgage in the first place. When it came to down payment, the survey, using NerdWallet's mortgage calculator data indicated potential buyers intending to put down approximately 20 percent towards the down payment of a home. FORECLOSURE STARTS AND COMPLETIONS HIT 17-YEAR LOWS Mortgage delinquencies hit a 23-month high as 2017 wrapped up, surging by 164,000 year- over-year, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report from the Data and Analytics Division of Black Knight, Inc. However, that figure only tells part of the story. Outside of hurricane-affected areas, Black Knight reports that the national mortgage delinquency rate was actually 11 percent below long-term norms. In these same areas, the total number of past-due or in-foreclosure homes dropped by more than 140,000 as December 2017 wrapped up. "Hurricanes Harvey and Irma significantly impacted 2017 mortgage performance metrics," said Black Knight Data and Analytics EVP Ben Graboske. "[However] when Black Knight isolated non-hurricane-impacted areas—which represent 90 percent of the entire active U.S. mortgage universe—we see the national delinquency rate actually fell to 11 percent below long-term norms. … Due to the various foreclosure moratoria put into place after the storms, there was no hurricane impact to speak of in that regard. In fact, the improvement in foreclosure inventory—which continued unabated in 2017—may have actually received a short-term boost from the moratoria." Last year also saw the fewest foreclosure starts nationwide of any year since 2000, with the annual total sitting at 649,000. e year also saw first-time foreclosure starts drop to 15 percent below the 2016 totals, putting them around half of the average before the housing crisis. Total foreclosure sales for 2017 hit 232,000, the lowest single-year total since the turn of the century, according to Black Knight. However, there are still more than 125,000 active foreclosures in which no payments have been made for more than two years. If you ramp that timeline up to five years or more, the total drops to 63,000. e total U.S. loan delinquency rate as of December 2017 was 4.71 percent, and the month-over-month change in delinquency rate was 3.47 percent. e total U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate for the month was 0.65 percent, and the month-over-month change in such was -2.22 percent. of millennials felt that they would rather own a home that appreciated in value than have more money in retirement savings. Source: NerdWallet's 2018 Home Buyer Report. STAT INSIGHT 56%

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