Bigger homes, more expensive inventory, and lower down payments all add up.
By Andrea Riquier | MarketWatch
For the past few years, the housing market has been unbalanced. Strong demand and lean supply keep pushing prices higher and higher.
On Wednesday, a fresh piece of data confirmed that trend. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly purchase loan data showed that the average size of a home loan was the largest in the history of its survey, which goes back to 1990.
Higher prices have a few different effects on the market. Buyers have to make tradeoffs on the kinds of homes they can afford, or may be shut out of ownership altogether.