What makes for a great market for first-time buyers? Areas that have strong job markets, short commute times, affordability, high inventories of homes for sale, and a population that skews younger, according to realtor.com®’s newly released Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers Report.

“Buying a first home is always a challenging undertaking, and it’s been an especially tough couple years for first-time buyers, many of whom are struggling to find a home that’s within their budget to win in a competitive bidding situation,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “With this in mind and the fact that remote work has given people more flexibility in where they live, we wanted to identify markets where first-timers have a chance to become homeowners and find a great quality of life.”

Realtor.com® found a lot of commonalities in markets that tend to be havens for first-time home buyers. For example, the top markets generally offer nearly twice the number of homes for sale than the national average. Also, they have a younger population than the country overall:—an average of 15.2% of residents who are between the ages of 25 to 34 years old, compared to 13.5% for the nation. They also tend to offer more affordable homes with the home price-to-income ratio in the top markets lower than the national average.

All the cities on realtor.com®’s list are located within metro areas that are predicted to have strong home sales and price growth in the future too, making them likely smart investment buys as well.

The following are the 10 markets that topped realtor.com®’s list as best markets for first-time buyers in 2022:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a new analysis that accuses the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—of routinely failing to fully respond to consumers who have found errors on their credit reports. The three credit bureaus reported fixing less than 2% of complaints in 2021—down from nearly 25% in 2019, according to the CFPB report.

“America’s credit reporting oligopoly has little incentive to treat consumers fairly when their credit reports have errors,” says CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, adding that the CFPB’s report is “further evidence of the serious harms stemming from their faulty financial surveillance business model.”

Credit reports play a critical role when lenders determine whether a person qualifies for a mortgage or for the best interest rates, and inaccuracies can drive up the costs of financing. Credit reporting also can inform decisions about employment, insurance, and utilities.

Consumers may submit complaints to the credit bureaus about inaccurate information on their credit and consumer reports. The CFPB’s analysis, however, found that the three companies failed to provide substantive responses, particularly when complaints were sent by third parties on the behalf of the consumer.

CFPB found that Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion relied heavily on template complaint responses instead of providing thorough responses to consumers. Equifax and TransUnion were the most likely to promise investigations of complaints but fail to provide any outcomes, the report notes.

Read CFPB’s full report.

Mortgage rates have taken a big leap at the start of the new year. In the first week of 2022, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped nearly 60 basis points higher than a year earlier, averaging 3.22% this week, Freddie Mac reports.

“Mortgage rates increased during the first week of 2022 to the highest level since May 2020 and are more than half a percent higher than January 2021,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “With higher inflation, promising economic growth, and a tight labor market, we expect rates will continue to rise. The impact of higher rates on purchase demand remains modest so far given the current first-time home buyer growth.”

The National Association of REALTORS® forecasts that mortgage rates will average 3.7% by the end of this year.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Jan. 6:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.22%, with an average 0.7 point, increasing from last week’s 3.11% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 2.65%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.43%, with an average 0.6 point, increasing from last week’s 2.33% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.16%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.41%, with an average 0.5 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.75%.

Freddie Mac reports average commitment rates along with average points to better reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage.

Most home buyers shop for homes online and judge properties by the photographs before deciding whether to visit the properties in person. Yet, many home sellers don’t make much effort to prepare for the photo shoot, according to a new study.

More than half of 310 professional real estate professional photographers recently surveyed say home sellers are unprepared for photos to be taken of their property when they arrive, according to a survey conducted by HomeJab, a photography and visual production service firm for real estate.

“Agents may be assuming their sellers know what they need to do to have their home ready for a photo shoot,” says Joe Jesuele, founder and CEO of HomeJab. “But photography occurs very early in the listing process, and sellers may not realize what professional photographers need to make the right impressions.”

What mistakes are homeowners making? They may forget to clean up and leave out personal items, such as cellphones, purses, and drinking glasses. “That can detract attention away from what is important,” says Jon Biddle, a professional real estate photographer in Philadelphia. “Agents could do more to make sure they’re ready.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced it would be increasing upfront fees on second-home mortgages and on mortgages that finance homes with balances that exceed standard conforming loan limits. The fees are expected to increase the purchase cost of second homes and homes in high-cost areas.

The new fees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will take effect on April 1.

Upfront fees for mortgage loans on second homes will rise between 1.125% and 3.875%. Most buyers finance their fee through their mortgage, which adds from 0.225% to 0.75% to the annual mortgage rate. For other certain high-balance loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, upfront fees will increase between 0.25% and 0.75%, or roughly 0.05% to 0.15% added to the annual mortgage rate, the FHFA said.

“These targeted pricing changes will allow [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] to better achieve their mission of facilitating equitable and sustainable access to homeownership while improving their regulatory capital position over time,” Sandra L. Thompson, FHFA acting director, said in a statement.

The National Association of Home Builders said that a buyer of a second home with a $300,000 mortgage loan amount and a loan-to-value ratio of 65%, for example, will pay an additional fee of $4,875 if their mortgage is purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Prior to this change, such buyers would have to pay no additional fee for a comparable mortgage.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will face greater risks as the market is waned off of the extraordinary federal support during the pandemic, and these changes may help them to support the maximum access and affordability possible for the market in a sound manner,” said NAR President Leslie Rouda Smith. “However, we are concerned that any fee increases that exceed necessary levels in the current environment will harm affordability and access for consumers. REALTORS® believe any excess revenues gleaned from the fee increases must be used to support homeownership opportunities in underserved communities, expanding affordability and access in a safe manner.”

“With the nation in the midst of a housing affordability crisis and many more workers electing to telework, this is exactly the wrong time for federal regulators to be raising fees on homeownership and second homes,” Chuck Fowke, chairman of the NAHB, which has spoken out against the fee increases.

Seventy-one percent of moving companies reported delays in 2021, blaming high demand and a labor shortage, according to a new survey of 63 moving firms conducted by moveBuddha, a moving company resource.

Buyers planning a move will want to plan ahead. Nearly half of companies are booked out at least three weeks further than in previous seasons, the survey shows. Sixteen percent of firms say they’re booked up more than six weeks out than in previous peak seasons.

What’s more, customer complaints about cancellations jumped 250% in 2021 compared to a pre-pandemic period in 2019.

“With so many Americans on the move, 2021 [saw] an unprecedented surge in the need for relocation services,” moveBuddha says of its research data. “Moving businesses across the country are reeling to meet demand in an economy plagued by worker shortages, rising fuel costs, and health concerns. And customers are hurting as well.”

The moving supply and demand issues are increasing costs for moves too, says Ben Heller, CEO of PricePoint, a moving price platform for movers.

Seventy-six percent of moving companies say they’re charging more than they used to.

“With so much demand, moving and freight companies are incentivized to take jobs that are more profitable now,” Heller told moveBuddha. “The result: There are more corporate moves with delays or no availability from partners, large delivery spreads, and more annoyed transferees.”

About 70% of moving companies report higher rates of delivery delays in 2021 compared to previous years. Delays are most prevalent for individuals moving as part of an employer-sponsored relocation contract, the survey shows.

Moving companies say among their biggest challenges are driver shortages, delivery delays, labor shortages, increased damage claims, and rising fuel costs.

The states reporting some of the biggest issues in servicing customers are in California, Illinois, and Washington, according to the survey.

Conforming loan limits for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have jumped in most of the country to $647,200, an increase of $98,950 from 2021’s limit of $548,250. The higher levels are in response to rising home prices over the past year.

The new loan limits took effect Jan. 1.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index shows that home prices rose 18.05%, on average, between the third quarters of 2020 and 2021. The 2022 conforming loan limits increased by the same percentage, the FHFA reports.

However, in areas where the local median home value exceeds the baseline conforming loan limit, the limits have risen more, the FHFA says. In higher-priced locations such as San Francisco and New York, the conforming loan limits for 2022 increased to $970,800. In 2021, that baseline was $822,375.

Find out the conforming loan limit for 2022 in your area at FHFA.gov. You can also view the interactive map below on the site.

Find out the conforming loan limit for 2022 in your area at FHFA.gov. You can also view the interactive map below on the site.