According to the report published by the Urban Institute, first-time home buyers are beginning to represent a broader percentage of total mortgage applications.

Despite the fact that affordability continues to thwart many first-timers, they are still forging in to enter the home-buying market.

This is a relatively new trend considering the fact that first-timers haven’t been a major factor in the housing market since the Great Recession of 2007-08.

According to the report, first-time home buyers represent a higher percentage for FHA loans. The FHA loan allows for a lower down payment with a lower credit score. The recent report showed that the FHA first-time home buyers accounted for 83% of today’s market, which is higher than the historical average of 80%. Back during the recession, FHA first-time home buyers represented only 75% of the loans.

The rising percentage of first-time home buyers is being attributed to a decrease in the number of repeat-buyers and current owners, according to the report. Repeat-buyers from 2001 to 2007 represented 1.4 to 1.8 million homes per year, but now repeat-buyers account for about 1 million homes.

The Urban Institute indicated that as the market has improved, home equity has increased to the point where now it has incentivized homeowners to jump back into the market. But instead of ‘jumping-in’ they are doing home renovations. Analysts believe that current homeowners with accumulated home equity are investing in their homes rather than upgrading. This is being seen as the reason Home Depot reported such strong sales for the second quarter of 2018.

The view is that current owners are sitting tight, and first-timers are jumping in because they don’t see the market trend slowing down. This shift comes on the heels of the fourth quarter 2017 where first-time home buyers fell to the lowest level since 1981. Now with the resurgence of the economy, first-time home buyers are willing to battle the rise in home prices, unaffordability, and shortage of available homes including starter homes.