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Down Payments' Downward Trend
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Colby Sambrotto, chief operating officer of http:/
Here are other highlights from the survey:
· Seventy-seven percent of home buyers said they used the Internet in their search, up from 41 percent in 2001 and 2 percent in 1995. Nearly a quarter of home buyers said they first saw on the Internet the house they ended up buying. That's up from 15 percent last year.
· First-time home buyers represented 40 percent of the market. The South region, which includes the Washington area, had among the lowest proportion of first-time buyers in the nation, with 36 percent.
· The median price of a home purchased by first-time buyers was $150,000. For repeat buyers, it was $235,000.
· The median income for first-time home buyers was $57,200. Overall, the median income was $71,600, a roughly 7 percent increase compared with the previous year.
· Whites represented 77 percent of first-time buyers, compared with 87 percent for repeat buyers.
· Almost seven out of 10 first-time home buyers purchased a single-family house, compared with nearly eight out of 10 for repeat buyers.
· The median size of a house purchased by first-time buyers was 1,546 square feet. For repeat buyers, it was 2,015 square feet.
· First-time home buyers listed house size, neighborhood quality and distance from work and school as the top three areas in which they compromised. Repeat buyers said they compromised most on house size, planned expenditures and distance from work and school.
· A third of home buyers were 34 or younger. Six percent were less than 25 years old.
· Married couples made up 61 percent of home buyers, compared with 70 percent in 1995.
· Single women made up 21 percent of home buyers, compared with 9 percent for single men.
Staff writer Sandra Fleishman contributed to this report.
