News Article-A Steady Supply of First Timers

I found this article in the Sun News website, Posted on
Sun, Nov. 21, 2004, and written by By Alan J. Heavens,
Inquirer Real Estate Writer.

Interesting points in the article were:

Fully 40 percent of people who buy existing houses
in a calendar year are entering the market for the first time.
This year, if sales projections are on the mark, that number
will top out at 2.6 million homes.

The typical first-time buyer, the Realtor survey found,
was 32, with a median income of $54,500. Twenty-four
percent of respondents identified themselves as African
American, Latino or Asian.

The typical first-time buyer was 32 years old, with one in
10 under 25 and more than half between 25 and 34, the
survey data showed. Median income was $54,500, while
three-quarters of the respondents said they made less
than $75,000 a year.

Seventy-seven percent of first-time buyers responding
to the survey were white. However, 24 percent of the
total identified themselves as African American, Latino
and Asian. They also were somewhat more likely to
speak a language other than English than repeat buyers.

In Northeast Philadelphia, we have everybody," said
Chris Artur of Artur Real Estate in Mayfair. "I listed a
house recently where nine of the 10 people interested
were Asian."

"There is a real mix of first-time buyers," he said.
"About 75 percent of the less expensive houses are
being bought by investors, and the more expensive
twins by people who plan to live in them, but it is
still a definite mix of immigrant groups."

Although only 7 percent of buyers said they found
their agents on the Internet, 74 percent said they
searched for houses there. This compares with
2 percent of buyers surveyed in 1995.

More than 80 percent of Internet searchers said
they used a real estate professional to buy houses,
Lereah said.

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