![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/home-buyers-compressed.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto by\u00a0Jordan Bauer<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Wary investors are fleeing the real estate market, creating opportunities for first-time buyers who now face less competition. The share of first-time buyers reached 36 percent in April, up from 32 percent during the same period last year, according to a <\/span>new survey<\/span><\/a> by the National Association of REALTORS.<\/span><\/p>\n While move-up buyers have to worry about offloading their current homes in the midst of a pandemic, renters are unburdened by such dilemmas. First-timers have also been enticed by record-low mortgage rates. The average 30-year fixed-rate loan sank to 3.15 percent this week \u2014 the lowest it\u2019s ever been since Freddie Mac began recording such data in 1971.<\/p>\n Sales of investment rental or vacation properties plunged to just 10 percent in April and there were significantly fewer cash transactions, 15 percent compared to 20 percent a year earlier. For investment rentals in particular, the share of total sales fell to 6 percent, down from 11 percent in February.<\/p>\n \u201cOne plausible reason is the expectation of greater financial risk associated with renters,\u201d wrote NAR researcher Scholastica \u201cGay\u201d Cororaton in a post on the Economists’ Outlook blog. \u201cThe social distancing measures have hit hard certain occupational groups\u2015food service\/ hospitality\/recreation workers and retail trade workers. These occupation groups are more likely to rent compared to other groups.\u201d<\/p>\n