“There is a benefit to potential first-time buyers in the market today: There is less competition for available homes,” Liu told Bloomberg. “Now, they may be able to afford – through slower home-price growth – a more desirable home than before.”
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Home buyers “must be breathing a collective sigh of relief that home price growth finally has slowed.” Skylar Olsen, director of economic research and outreach for Zillow Research, told the WSJ, adding that the slowing appreciation “is a sign that fierce competition is dying down.”
Among Americans under the age of 35, homeownership rate rose to 36.8% in the third quarter from 35.6% a year earlier. The rate for the 35-to-45 age range was 59.5%, compared to from 59.3% a year earlier.
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