For 50 years until the housing bust, first-time buyers were the foundation of the housing market boom, Value Walk says, because this allowed the previous homeowners to make a profit and become trade-up buyers. Today this happens a lot less frequently.
Value Walk further says that the decline in home prices occurred because many all-cash buyers raced in over the last three years to replace trade-up buyers, and banks concentrated their efforts on substantially reducing foreclosures as well as the sale of repossessed properties. This artificial restriction of homes on the market is leveling prices.