The Homeowner Pivot

There are some interesting statistics shaping the current lending industry which leads me to ask, “What is the new population of homebuyers?”

This blog is not written to find what the ingredients are for the lending “magic sauce” as I am convinced there is not one recipe that works.   Strong organizations have a solid, long-term strategy for the origination/acquisition platform, a diverse set of loan programs, and competitive market pricing.  When HFA’s serve their community of IMB’s, Community Banks, and Credit Unions, their loan program platform can and must provide assorted options for the prospective homeowner.

These are some of the recent trends that HFAs should be paying attention to as they design their market focus:

• The Mortgage Bankers Association shared an article from the National Mortgage Professional shows that in 2025 – 1 in 10 homebuyers are now single women.
  • Regardless of current conventional interest rates hovering around 6.50%, single-family women are pursuing homeownership. The article cited: 11.4% of this group were individuals who were under the age of 45.  The highest impacted markets were: Hartford, Connecticut, Buffalo, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; and Birmingham, Alabama rounded out the top five.
• Pending home sales in the month of May were at 3.8% – much higher than their forecast.
  • Pending home sales that are higher than expected show that homeowners are “coming off the fence.”  Prospective homeowners have become more savvy and watch home value trends diligently.  This group of homeowners is now seeing home prices have, in their perspective “bottomed out.” 
• Single-Family New Construction starts were at an 882,000 annualized rate (down 1.9% from April, and 6.7% below May 2025).
  • In spite of home financing incentives, homebuyers have become leary of purchasing a new home.  Part of this can come from the additional cost to finish high ticket items like landscaping, blinds, and appliances.  

The distinct comparison between pending home sales and single-family new construction starts clearly demonstrates the “new population of homebuyers” are watching the value of residential real estate in their market.   This shift will put additional demand on the existing supply of home inventory and has the propensity of fulfilling the belief that home values (in some markets) have bottomed out.   I would also say that the statistics that I read regarding the increasing participation by single women to purchase homes are highly successful where the affordable housing stock is available.  

I ask, how does your HFA continue to meet the housing demands and be servant leaders as housers in your market? Developing a Strategic Plan around this topic has many layers and may cause some angst within your team.   The impact of looking at what types of loans your HFA is acquiring and then tying it back into the housing market demographics is a massive, and very time-consuming project.   In my experience in working with assorted clients the day-to-day work removes leadership away from analyzing what they are doing to then ask – how do we take our HFA to the next level.

This is where Strategic Planning, Acquisition Analysis, Loan Program Review and Goal Setting should no longer be an optional exercise. When an HFA can take the next step to developing an ongoing discipline regarding how it analyzes the market and then designs homeownership programs – it then truly serves its community.

Need help? The best clients I have had admit they “don’t known, what they don’t know.” This is where true leadership, and I must say a bit of humility comes into play. Consultants offer a broad array of industry knowledge and can interpret that knowledge into helping design a Strategic Plan.