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Th e M Rep o RT | 55 O r i g i nat i O n s e r v i c i n g a na ly t i c s s e c O n da r y m a r k e t ANALYTICS THE LATEST Continued on page 56 survey Finds rise in millennials' Optimism toward Homebuying A growing number of millennials intend to purchase a home within the next several months. m illennials have be- come more positive regarding purchasing their first home and are primed to gain market share in the second half of the year, based on the results of Realtor. com's Consumer Behavior Survey. Realtor.com, a leading provider of online real estate services operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc., surveyed more than 12,000 respondents from January 1, 2015 to June 15, 2015. Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com's chief economist, gave an in-depth review of the survey findings at the Mortgage Availability for Millennials and Other First-Time Buyers panel discussion at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Miami in June. "Despite the slow indicators we saw earlier this year, 2015 is on pace to be one of the best years for housing since 2006 due to strong sales and higher than predicted home prices," said Smoke. "Additionally, we're observing an uptick in millen- nial traffic and sentiment that we expect will result in more first-time home buyer sales in the later part of the year." First-timers are very critical and cautious when it comes to the health of the market, Smoke added. "Historically, they're the largest demographic of home buyers and can have a dramatic impact on housing," he said. The next piece of revealing data comes from the number of millennials who intend to buy a home within the next three months. Relator.com found 65 percent of the survey respondents indicated they intend to buy a home within three months, up from 54 percent in January. Older millennials and first-time buyers are also optimistic about purchasing a home. Both groups noted in the survey that they are "very likely to purchase within the next 12 months," compared to the average potential buyer. Market challenges and lack of inventory held many millen- nials back from buying a home in the beginning of this year. In the survey, 41 percent of older millennial homebuyers cited that they "have not yet found a house that meets their needs" as the biggest factor holding them back from a purchase. Some of the other reasons mentioned in- cluded difficulty finding a good house within budget, not spend- ing enough time looking, needing to improve credit score, lacking a down payment, and currently being in a lease. "Last year, first-time buyer market share decreased as the year progressed and dropped all the way to 27 percent in the sum- mer, according to data from the National Association of Realtors," stated Smoke. "This year, we're seeing an increase in millennial demand that points to a strength- ening first-time buyer demograph- ic. As the economy continues to grow over the next few years, we can expect first-timers to return to a healthy level of 40 percent of the market. A return to that level would add approximately 15 percent to the number of total homes sold." Over Half of states are in 'stable' Housing market range Nine more states and 10 more metros moved up to the 'stable' range in April, according to Freddie Mac. m ore than half of the states plus the District of Columbia, along with more than a third of the nation's largest metro areas, were categorized in the "stable" range in April on the strength of a healthy spring homebuy- ing season, according to Freddie Mac's April 2015 Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) released in June. Out of the nation's top 100 metropolitan areas, 35 had a MiMi value in the stable range in April, according to Freddie Mac. The overall value of the MiMi in April was 78.7, which is still termed as weak but is only slightly below stable range (which is 80 to 120). Moreover, April's MiMi value represented an improvement 0f 0.14 percent from March to April, a three- month improvement of 2.10 percent, and a year-over-year improvement of 3.57 percent. While April's value of 78.7 is significantly off from the all-time high MiMi value of 121.7 reached in April 2006, it is an improve- ment of about 33 percent from its record low of 57.4 registered in October 2010. "We saw a significant im- provement in housing markets nationwide, with ten more metro areas and nine more states mov- ing within range of their bench- mark, stable level of housing activity," said Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist. "The West and Southwest areas of the country continue to lead the way, especially Colorado,