The McMansion, which was popular in the 1980s and ’90s, is having a renaissance as demand surges during the pandemic for larger properties with expansive yards. Homes that are 4,000 square feet or more sold 70% faster than smaller homes nationwide in February, according to realtor.com®.

Realtor.com®’s research team evaluated the 150 largest metros for the highest percentage of single-family listings that are 4,000 square feet or more. They then limited their rankings to one metro per state to ensure geographic diversity. The following markets have the largest number of McManions for sale:

1. Provo, Utah

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $1.04 million

2. Bridgeport, Conn.

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $2.7 million

3. Denver

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $1.4 million

4. Washington, D.C.

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $1.8 million

5. Santa Barbara, Calif.

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $8.2 million

6. Indianapolis

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $691,750

7. Boston

• Median list price for homes 4,000 square feet and above: $2.2 million

Even as home prices rapidly escalate, many first-time home buyers—a group economists long feared would be priced out of the market—are finding they actually have advantages over repeat buyers: more flexibility in the transaction and access to a greater variety of financing options. Flexibility is particularly helpful when shopping for a home in today’s competitive market, characterized by commonplace bidding wars.

Many repeat buyers require offer contingencies, such as selling their current property before closing on a new purchase. But offers with fewer contingencies are more attractive in a multiple-bid situation. “Anyone in a position to make an offer without a home-sale contingency is going to be better positioned than those who are waiting to free up cash,” Dana Bull, a real estate professional with Sotheby’s International Realty in Boston, told Apartment Therapy.

First-time buyers also may be less stressed, given that they’re likely to focus on one transaction at a time rather than buying and selling simultaneously, Bull adds. The National Association of REALTORS® chronicles the value members bring to these clients in its web series “First-Time Buyer”—another potential tool helping novice buyers navigate the homebuying process. (Watch the trailer at right.)

First-time buyers also have access to grants and down payment assistance programs that are unavailable to repeat buyers. While repeat buyers have the advantage of using the equity from the sale of their previous house, you can help first-time buyers find assistance programs that may offer thousands of dollars in savings. “You may be eligible for grants or specialty programs that cover some or all of your down payment amount, reducing the upfront cost of buying a home,” Andrina Valdes, chief operation officer of Cornerstone Home Lending, Inc., told Apartment Therapy.

First-time home buyers comprised 33% of existing-home sales in January, up from 32% a year earlier, according to NAR data.

Lifestyle improvement has emerged as the main motivator for renters looking for new spaces a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to a new survey from RentCafé. Back in March 2020, the top renter preference centered around pricing.

In the latest survey, 41% of renters chose “open-air amenities” and “more space” as their most essential apartment features, outranking work-from-home amenities like a home office (5%) or a “good internet connection” (10%), according to the survey of 10,000 aspiring renters.

Forty-eight percent of survey respondents also say they prefer to remain in the same city. “This shows that improving housing conditions—not drastic change—is the goal,” the researchers note.

Many of the moves from the early days of the pandemic were motivated by expiring leases or financial insecurity. But those concerns do not appear to be triggering the majority of moves nowadays, the survey shows.

Home prices are up sharply, and the average annual homeowner equity gains in the fourth quarter of 2020 reached the highest level since 2013, CoreLogic reports in its latest Home Equity Report. These gains among homeowners have helped to offset some of the financial difficulties from the pandemic.

“This growing bank of personal wealth that homeownership affords was noticed by many but in particular for first-time buyers who want a piece of the cake,” says Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “As a result, we may see more of those currently renting start to enter the market in the near future.”

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the average homeowner gained about $26,300 in equity during the past year. California, Idaho, and Washington saw the largest average equity gains at $54,500, $48,500, and $47,200 respectively.

Meanwhile, properties in a negative equity position—reflecting borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth—dropped to 2.8% of all properties with a mortgage in the fourth quarter of 2020, a 21% decrease compared to the previous quarter.

The increase in equity is enabling more families “to finance home remodeling, such as adding an office or study, further contributing to last year’s record level in home improvement spending,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic.

The housing market largely outperformed the rest of the economy throughout 2020. But the housing market’s recovery still remains more “lopsided than ever as the gap between buyer demand and supply widens,” according to a newly released report from realtor.com® about the pandemic’s impact on the housing market over the past year.

New listings remain well-below the pre-COVID-19 baseline. However, the housing market overall in sales is performing above pre-pandemic levels, according to realtor.com®’s Housing Market Recovery Index.

“The housing market bounced back so much faster than other sectors of the economy that many have forgotten that housing activity slowed to a crawl during the early days of the pandemic,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “One year later, the demand for housing remains strong, while supply remains limited.”

Realtor.com® reports there are 50% fewer homes available for sale now than a year ago. The homes that are on the market are selling quickly. During the week ending March 6, homes sold, on average, six days faster than a year ago. “Buyers not only have fewer homes to choose from, they need to act fast to succeed,” realtor.com® notes in its report.

But Hale cautions a turn may be ahead for the housing market. “We expect the vaccine’s rollout to alleviate some sellers’ anxieties, which could help the supply crunch,” she notes. “At the same time, although interest rates remain low, they’ve begun to increase, which could test buyer demand in the coming months.”

Home prices have surged to double-digit percentage gains over the past year, which means home buyers are having to either bring more to the closing table or borrow more. They’re doing both.

Down payments are at record highs, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ fourth quarter 2020 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report. The median down payment on a single-family home and condo purchased with financing in the fourth quarter of 2020 was $24,500, up 82% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 ($13,441), according to the report, with records dating back to at least 2000.

The median down payment represents 7.7% of the median sales price for homes purchased with financing during the fourth quarter of 2020, up from 5.2% a year prior.

Home buyers are borrowing more to afford the higher home prices. The median loan amount was $280,000—another record high, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ report. The amount buyers are borrowing for their mortgage jumped nearly 25% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

The National Association of REALTORS®’ latest existing-home sales report, reflecting January housing data, showed the median existing-home price for all housing types was $303,900, a 14% increase compared to a year prior.

A home often represents about 90% of the total wealth of a household. Homeownership often has long been pointed to as a way to build wealth over the long run. It also could help narrow racial income and wealth inequity gaps, writes Gay Cororaton, senior economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, at the association’s Economists’ Outlook blog.

But how much wealth potential can you gain over time? Cororaton offers the following scenario: Take a homeowner who purchased a single-family existing home 10 years ago at the median sales price of $170,567, with a 10% down payment. Then, they sold the home at the median sales price of $315,700 in the fourth quarter of 2020. They would have built up a home equity gain of $176,123. Over a 30-year period, that would jump to $307,979, Cororaton notes.

“Wealth accumulation takes time, so the earlier households start owning homes, the greater the wealth accumulation,” Cororaton writes.

In some metros, homeowners are accumulating equity over a decade faster than others. For example, the areas that saw the greatest wealth gains from homeownership between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2020 were:

• San Jose-Sunnyvale-St. Clara, Calif.: $929,471
• San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.: $761,204
• Anaheim-Sta. Ana-Irvine, Calif.: $509,806
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif: $430,196
• San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.: $427,896
• Urban Honolulu: $412,986
• Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Fla.: $379,243