May’s Military Appreciation Month is a time to honor the country’s veterans and active service members and their families and recognize them for their sacrifices.
One of the most useful benefits afforded to military personnel is access to Veterans Administration, or VA, home loans, which offer 100 percent financing for veteran and active-service homebuyers to achieve their dreams of owning their own home. According to NAR’s 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 18 percent of recent home buyers identified themselves as veterans and 2 percent as active-duty service members; of all buyers last year 12 percent made their purchase with a VA loan.
When it comes to homeownership, NAR’s 2016 Veterans & Active Military Home Buyers and Sellers Profile, found that young active-service buyers (ages 18-35) value owning a home of their own and bought at a far greater rate (51 percent) than non-military buyers (34 percent), despite having a lower median incomes. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun surmised that more stable job security and no down payment financing options, like VA loans, give potential home buyers in the military a deserving advantage over their civilian peers.
The report also found that VA loans –– which are the most popular loan type for active-service and veteran buyers – lead to the majority of active-service buyers financing 100 percent of their home purchase and veterans putting down a median down payment of 5 percent. For non-military buyers, the median down payment was 11 percent.
On behalf of the nation’s 1.2 million Realtor® members, the National Association of Realtors® thanks our nation’s military members for their service.
Powered by WPeMatico