Real Estate
The Las Vegas housing market is in transition, from a situation where investors were swooping up distressed properties to a market of more traditional, owner-occupant sales. While home prices are up nearly 19 percent from a year ago, they are still more than 40 percent off their peak, according to S&P Case Shiller’s latest home price report. …
Home builders got hammered last month. What’s ailing the housing market?
Mortgage rates didn’t move at all last week, but more borrowers made applications to refinance their home loans. A weekly measure of loan volume by the Mortgage Bankers Association showed a 2.4 percent gain in total applications week-to-week, with a 4 percent jump in refinances leading the charge. Read More Higher mortgage rates not deterring buyers …
The number of homes listed for sale nationally is finally beginning to rise, but ask anyone looking to buy a home and the majority will complain there is nothing out there. Neighborhood to neighborhood, market to market, supply still seems tight, despite a 6.5 percent increase in listings from a year ago, according to the National …
Phoenix is a lesson in housing abuse. From boom to bust, to recovery to relapse, Phoenix housing is forever rising and falling, and now it is falling again. The rest of the nation should take notice. “We tend to be a little bit more extreme, more volatile than the rest of the country, but usually …
If San Francisco needs a new name in the zany plan to create six Californias, they might as well call it “Millionaireville.” According to DataQuick, the median home price in San Francisco in June hit the seven-figure mark for the first time. It was also the first time that any of the Bay Area-counties had hit the seven-figure median. Read …
The housing market is hot, thanks to favorable interest rates and home prices that remain relatively low around much of the country. According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose sharply in May, with lower mortgage rates and increased inventory pushing home sales upward in all four regions of the U.S. And …
Foreclosure activity has been falling steadily for the past few years as the housing market recovers, but the latest reading shows it has hit a new milestone. According to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure sales and analytics company, 107,194 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing in June—the lowest level since July 2006, before the housing price bubble …
When the tech sector does well, so does the Silicon Valley housing economy. Josh Lipton is in Atherton, California where home prices are rising fast.
The nation’s home builders are clearly feeling better about the housing recovery. A monthly sentiment index from the National Association of Home Builders jumped 4 points in July to 53, finally crossing into positive territory; 50 is the line between positive and negative sentiment. “This is the first time that builder confidence has been above …
Mortgage rates are attractive. Home price gains are easing. Employment is improving. So why aren’t more people buying houses? Sales are rising slightly month-to-month but are still well below where they were last year. The answer is pretty simple: Too many people can’t afford to buy homes. “Despite this national slowdown in price gains, price …
Rates are not the driving factor for home sales. At least that’s what the correlation between rate moves and mortgage applications to purchase a home suggests. After several week-to-week declines in mortgage application, the numbers increased by 4 percent last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. So did mortgage rates. The MBA’s seasonally adjusted …
From the front lobby, it could easily be mistaken for a spa hotel—the blue wave lighting on the wall behind the concierge desk, the sleek sofas and flat screen monitors. But this is no hotel. It is student housing—millennial style—and it may be one of the best under-the-radar real estate plays of the decade. “This …
The listing of obscure items on online auction site eBay is nothing new, but one Italian seller has gone a step further, putting a whole Alpine village up for sale. The picturesque village of Calsazio, listed on eBay Italy, comes with a “Buy It Now” price tag of just 245,000 euros ($333,000). The village includes …
What might heat up the housing market in the second half of the year?
