Homebuyers Enter 2026 with More Power, Uncertainty
Massachusetts homebuyers will have more power in 2026, but concerns about the job market could minimize the impact, experts predict.
Mass. Is Creating Homeownership Deserts in Our Gateway Cities
There’s a rising fascination with helping homebuyers access their first homes. But it won’t fix the core issue: We don’t create many new affordable homes for sale.
Down Payment Assistance Program Celebrates First Year of Operation
The Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s newest mortgage program has served 255 first-time homebuyers and dispersed $8 million in down payment help its first year of operation.
Mortgage Rates Are Tumbling. Will Anyone in Mass. Benefit?
Massachusetts renters struggle to become first-time homebuyers, but the recent downward trend in mortgage interest rates will help the richest ones most if it continues.
Fannie, Freddie Ordered to Consider Crypto as Asset When Underwriting Mortgages
The head of the federal government agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wants the mortgage giants to consider accepting a homebuyer’s cryptocurrency holdings in their criteria for buying mortgages from banks.
Homebuyers’ Student Debt Issues Can Be Solved. Here’s Where to Start
Massive, often insurmountable amounts of student debt have prevented millions of otherwise qualified borrowers from obtaining financing to buy a house.
Mass. Home Affordability Worsens in Fourth Quarter
An index maintained by data firm ATTOM shows that every area of Massachusetts got less affordable over the last year. The North Shore and Merrimack Valley were hit hardest.
Housing Market Tests New Mortgage Program’s Effectiveness
MHP’s new mortgage product offers new and bigger discounts to low- and middle-income buyers. But without more housing supply, officials say, there are limits to how much it can do on its own.
NAR Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers Illustrates Affordability Issues
The number of first-time homebuyers dropped to the lowest historical share since NAR data collection began in 1981.
A Liquidity Provider in the Housing Space
While high costs continue to dominate the housing market, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston under Timothy J. Barrett has been going beyond its statutory responsibilities to fund affordable homeownership.
Starter Home Sales Growing in Boston Area
Even as record-high high home prices dominate local housing markets across the country, new data suggests that sales of cheaper starter homes are on the rise.
Healey Veto Would Damage Racial Wealth Gap Efforts, Nonprofits Say
A $1.5 million cut to a state grant program for first-time homebuyer counseling might seem small, but the nonprofit community developers who use the funds say it could gut their work trying to give aspiring homebuyers of color a shot in the ever-more-expensive Massachusetts housing market.
Housing ‘Extras’ Add Up
Homebuyers who focus solely on the cost of their mortgage’s interest and principal are doing themselves a disservice. There are other recurring costs that should be factored into the decision.
Longer Homeowner Tenure Means Agent Roles Will Change, NAR Says
With Baby Boomers outbidding Millennials and Generation X in many home sales, economists at the National Association of Realtors say real estate agents should start thinking differently about what their clients need from them.
Advocate Says Not Enough Mortgage Companies Offer FHA Alternatives
A new analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data shows too many Black and Latino first-time homebuyers are still using expensive FHA loans when much cheaper local options exist, a major housing advocacy group says.
Nearly Half of Local Millennials Now Homeowners, But What About the Other Half?
An analysis of Census Bureau data shows that 45 percent of Millennials in Greater Boston now own homes, but separate studies released in recent days suggest that the remaining 55 percent of area Millennials face a steeper path to ownership than their peers.
Report: Mass. Economy Threatened by Demographic Shifts
The number of people between the ages of 20 and 64 in Massachusetts is projected to fall by 120,000 people by 2030, a worrying trend that a leading business group says requires aggressive countermeasures.
FHFA Moves to Help Beleaguered Buyers
Two moves announced by Federal Housing Finance Agency officials Monday could give a boost to first-time buyers, minority buyers and others with less resources who’ve been unceremoniously shoved out of the housing market by rising prices and interest rates this year.
Freddie Mac Lets Borrowers Use Bank Account Data for Loan Underwriting
In a move it said would boost lower-income Americans’ ability to buy homes, Freddie Mac said it would start including a review of a prospective homebuyer’s bank account as part of its review of whether or not to purchase a loan from a lender.
Mediocre Credit Adds Hundreds to Buyer’s Monthly Housing Costs
It’s not just ability to pay that helps knock less-well-off buyers out of the housing market as prices and mortgage interest rates climb through the roof.
