ith mortgage rates at 21-year highs and the number of homes sold each month hovering near their lowest point in more than a decade, mortgage brokers are going to unusual lengths to induce buyers to enter the housing market.
Zillow spokespeople would not say how much it expects to hand out in down payment assistance, nor what it expects will be the size of the average individual grant, but the company does hope to roll out the plan nationally. Because the program is limited to first-time buyers with income below the average in the area, the grants are unlikely to be more than $10,000.Only 4.04 million existing homes were sold in August in the U.S.
While Zillow isn’t a home builder, it similarly is trying to capture as much of the real estate market as possible. Founded in 2004, Seattle-based. It has since expanded to include managing apartments, brokering rentals, and connecting buyers and sellers with agents. In 2018, it acquired Mortgage Lenders of America to enter the home-loans business.By helping potential home buyers take out mortgages, Zillow locks them into its suite of real estate products and services, Leiber says.