May 6, 2025
If this title sounds familiar, we would not be surprised. From a famous quote by Mark Twain – to the title of a best-selling book — to a title of an episode of The West Wing on TV, it has been used again and again in the public eye. Numbers can be confusing and there are so many ways to use them, especially in the real estate market. For example, a recent excerpt of an article we published by the Mortgage Bankers Association pointed out the National Association of Realtors estimated first time buyers last year at an all-time low of just under 25%. Yet, other measures show the number to be closer to 50%. How can you be that far off?
Similarly, a recent survey indicated that about 50% of non-owners think they will never be able to afford to own. But let’s look at this number more closely. The percentage of USA homeownership is just under two-thirds. Thus, the number of rental households is about 35% of the population. If you take 50% of this number, then we are talking about 17.5%. Three to four percent of these rental households are retired, bringing the number down to approximately 14%. Here is the point—if you looked at the headline, it appeared that 50% of Americans think they will never be able to purchase. This is not to make light of today’s affordability issues, but the number is much smaller than that.
Speaking of numbers, we had the jobs report released on Friday. We added 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remained at 4.2%. The previous two months of gains were adjusted downward by 58,000 mitigating the gains somewhat. Wages increased 0.2% monthly and 3.8% year-over-year. Overall, this report was seen as right on target. The Fed will be looking hard at this report when they meet this week, especially considering the weak first quarter report on economic growth – though a surge in tariff beating imports may have skewed that report.
Source: Origination Pro
Executive Vice President, Benny Loria
Benny Loria, Esq. 718-943-9200 Ext. 115
Benny Loria is a co-founder of AMERIMUTUAL Mortgage and Executive Vice President. Like his brother Philip, Benny is also an attorney and has extensive knowledge of New York’s real estate market.
Benny is responsible for managing the firm’s commercial and residential sectors. Over his career, Benny has developed deep and lasting relationships with a broad array of lenders, which in turn leads to an extensive array of mortgage products for his clients.
Benny is responsible for day-to-day management of the firm’s relationships with its most active lenders and management of AMERIMUTUAL’S Loan officers and Processors