As mortgage rates rise, some home buyers are starting to back away from the higher costs of ownership. Existing-home sales fell in March, the second consecutive month for declines, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday. Still, with limited housing stock for sale, homes continue to sell fast and for higher prices.NAR’s existing-home sales index—which reflects completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condos
Though the current housing crisis was decades in the making, all levels of government and the private sector can work together now to ease the burden on consumers and increase housing availability, affordability, and accessibility. This was the message Tuesday from experts during a webinar hosted by national think tank Third Way called “A Look Ahead: Fixing the Housing Crisis.”Chronic underbuilding has contributed to housing supply
The construction of single-family homes slowed last month as builders complain of numerous headwinds that are limiting their ability to add more inventory. Ongoing supply chain bottlenecks continue to delay construction projects and raise homebuilding costs, builders say.Also, rising mortgage rates—with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now averaging over 5%--as well as higher new-home prices are beginning to soften demand.Both single-family hous
Single-family rentals remain a hot commodity. Rent prices continued their double-digit climb in February, rising 13.1% overall compared to a year earlier. It marked another record for single-family rents, according to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rental Index.A shortage of available rentals is leading to a run-up in prices. Also, double-digit gains in home prices are pricing out some would-be home buyers and prompting them to rent instead.“Singl
In multiple-offer situations, a closing guarantee may help buyers’ offers stand out. Written into a contract, these guarantees outline that if the transaction doesn’t close by a specified closing date, the affected party will be compensated.Such a guarantee could offer home sellers greater assurance that a particular offer will close over others they received in a bidding war.The lender typically decides what the guarantee amount will be, Apa
Montana’s new-home construction is booming. The state had the highest growth rate nationwide annually in February, with residential housing permits surging 121%, the National Association of Home Builders reports.Overall, single-family permits nationwide—a gauge of future construction—has increased by 3.5% year over year in February. Between February 2021 and February 2022, 28 states and the District of Columbia posted growth in single-famil
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to a 5% average this week, the first time it’s been that high since 2011. Since the beginning of the year, mortgage rates have jumped by 1.8 percentage points and added about $400 to the average monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home, Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of REALTORS®, writes for the association’s blog.Also, with inflation a
The average property tax on a single-family home in 2021 rose at the smallest pace in five years. Taxes rose by 1.8% last year, from $3,719 in 2020 to $3,785 in 2021 nationwide, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm.“It’s hardly a surprise that property taxes increased in 2021, a year when home prices across the country rose by 16%,” says Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at
Rental prices are rising fast and, as leases come up for renewal, tenants may be shocked by just how much. A new report from realtor.com® shows that rental prices rose by nearly 20% from March 2020 to 2022.Sun Belt metros topped the list of fastest-growing rental markets over the past two years, led by Miami, Riverside, Calif., and Tampa, Fla. On the other hand, major tech hubs that have in the past served as rental leaders lately have seen many
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