General News - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Mortgage Rates Back Above 3%

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.01% this week, posting a sharp rise after spending nearly four months below 3%. Economists expect mortgage rates to continue to increase modestly over the next few months.“Mortgage rates rose across all loan types this week as the 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest point since June,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Many factors led to this increase, including the Fed

Read More

Inventory Hits 2021 High, Competition Remains Fierce

Home buyers are finding more housing selections this fall, but they're still up against some serious competition. Nearly one-third of the 50 largest metros saw increases in the number of newly listed homes compared to last year, according to a new report from realtor.com®.“This September, buyers had more options than they’ve had all year and while that’s typical of early fall, that’s not what happened in 2020,” says Danielle Hale, real

Read More

More New Homes are Being Built with 4-Plus Bedrooms

More Americans are desiring bigger homes since the pandemic—and builders are responding. The share of new single-family homes with four or more bedrooms posted a sharp uptick, unlike in recent years, the National Association of Home Builders reports on its Eye on Housing blog.The share of single-family homes started with four bedrooms or more rose from 42.6% in 2019 to 45.2% in 2020.“These developments are linked to changes in the makeup of h

Read More

Pending Sales Portend Strong Buyer Comeback

Home buyers made a strong comeback in August, pushing contract signing up 8.1% over July’s numbers, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday. The increase in pending home sales followed two consecutive months of declines.“Rising inventory and moderating price conditions are bringing buyers back to the market,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Affordability, however, remains challenging as home price gains are

Read More

Your Location Affects your Life Expectancy

Location may impact how long you live, according to a new study from MIT economists. The study examined seniors between the ages of 65 to 99 who relocated long-distance from 1999 to 2014.For example, when a 65-year-old moves from a metro area in the 10th percentile for longevity from a metro area in the 90th percentile, they can increase their life expectancy by 1.1 years, researchers say.“There’s a substantially important causal effect of wh

Read More

7 Cities with the Most Affordable Mansions

Home buyers are demanding more space: bigger homes and more rooms. So, where can they find a locale with affordable mansions?Realtor.com®’s research team set out to identify the areas with massive mansions—5,000-plus square feet—for less than $1 million. That isn’t exactly an easy feat: The national median list price for homes of 5,000-plus square feet was $1.58 million in August. The prices of larger homes climbed 17% over the past year

Read More

The Future of Cities will be ‘Extreme Automation’

How will commercial real estate needs change in the next five to 10 years? How has the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the change? And what’s the implication for cities? Those questions were top of mind as the National Association of REALTORS®’ inaugural C5 Summit, a commercial real estate conference, kicked off Monday in New York.Cities have a bright future, said Greg Lindsay, a senior fellow and director of applied research at the 

Read More

10 Most Affordable Counties for Homeowners

Home prices surging has been squeezing housing affordability. Seventy-five percent of the U.S. counties recently analyzed had less affordable median-priced single-family homes in the third quarter compared to their historical averages, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm.Home prices are rising faster than wages in most of the country. Record low mortgage rates have helped home buyers offset some of these high

Read More

20% Hike on New-Home Prices

New-home sales rose in August, even as buyers continued to weather high home prices. Higher development costs and material prices have put pressure on new-home prices, which are 20% higher than a year ago. The median sales price was $390,900 in August, the Commerce Department reported Friday.“These price hikes are a risk for housing affordability as we approach the end of the year,” says Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Associati

Read More

Top 10 Commercial Office Markets for 2021

The commercial market is starting to rebound. Since the second quarter of 2020, vacancy rates have fallen for apartments and multifamily units, industrial, and retail properties, the National Association of REALTORS® reported at its inaugural C5 Commercial Real Estate Summit in New York City on Monday. The conference is bringing together commercial investors and industry leaders, REALTOR® associations, economic development corporation

Read More

This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.