According to the new Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications decreased 0.8 percent from the week prior. Refinancing activity decreased by 1 percent, while purchase mortgages rose by 20 percent. Refinancing comprised 59.5 percent of all

Chicagoland’s housing market may have improved, but most homeowners are not personally reaping the benefits. Home sales and prices may be showing strong improvement throughout Chicagoland, but that progress has not translated to greater returns for the area’s homeowners.

In September, single-family home prices, including distressed sales, jumped 6.4 percent year-over-year, according to CoreLogic. For more than a year, national home prices have followed a steady, upward trajectory toward long-term stability. CoreLogic Chief Economist Sam Khater described the last 15

What counties in Chicagoland are seeing the most new construction activity? Earlier this week, we reported that new construction in Chicagoland is at its highest level since 2008, with more than 6,000 housing starts in the 12-month period ending

Construction shows signs of life in Chicagoland, but lack of lots causes concern Construction is at the highest annual rate in Chicagoland since Q3 of 2008, according to a MetroStudy survey of the area’s construction markets in 2015 Q3.

There’s been a lot of political posturing as of late, with partisan pundits and presidential candidates butting heads over everything from tax strategies to affordable housing, but one issue that, surprisingly, has remained largely left out of the conversation is

The nation’s wealthiest 1.5 percent have a distinct set of features that they look for in a new home, according to a new Coldwell Banker Previews International and Ipsos Connect survey. The following features rated highly among luxury buyers:

Builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes is at its highest level since 2005 with the NAHB’s Housing Market Index (HMI) rising three points in October to a level of 64. David Crowe, the NAHB’s chief

Were the usual suspects on top in Chicagoland’s suburban markets? Sales of single-family detached homes in Chicago’s suburbs were up 7.8 percent year-to-date in September, according to the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe). That overall stat, though, masks considerable variability through

As 2015 draws to a close, how has residential construction activity in Chicagoland compared with the previous year? Residential construction spending in Chicagoland totaled $354 million in September, according to new Dodge Data & Analytics numbers. Although that is 2

Though we’ve moved past the golden years of flipping that followed the housing market’s collapse in 2007, as the market returns to a stable posture – consistent price increases included – the practice of flipping is regaining some of its

For nearly a decade, the nation’s homeownership rate has been in decline. Since 2004, when homeownership peaked at 69 percent, the rate has fallen nearly 6 percentage points down to 63.7 percent in the first quarter of 2015, according

Housing continues to slow in 2015 Pending home sales were down 2.3 percent from August to September, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors. Closing out the month at 106.8, the Pending Home Sales Index

Single-family home starts are far below the long-term median – why? Builder confidence has posted repeated year-over-year gains in recent months, but the amount of single-family housing starts is not rising to match their confidence, according to a report by The Wall

Do these economic trends pose problems for housing’s future? America’s housing market is at a crossroads. In addition to the usual real estate entities that impact its progress – Realtor associations, homebuilders, lending institutions – housing is also privy to the wider

New home sales were down last month, but what about 2015 overall? Autumn has been a lackluster season thus far for new home sales, which rose 2.0 percent month-to-month but fell 11.5 percent year-over-year in September, ending the month at a seasonally adjusted