Pending home sales shot up in January, suggesting positive numbers down the road. Pending home sales hit their highest level in 18 months in January, according to the latest analysis from the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home

In the end, buying a home all comes down to dollars and cents, and Chicagoland’s qualifying incomes differ in interesting ways with the rest of the U.S. To qualify for a mortgage on a 5 percent down payment, Chicagoland

Construction may have been up in Chicagoland, but what counties are seeing the most activity? Housing starts in the 12-county Chicagoland region rose 17.3 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to new analysis from MetroStudy; at 5,708 new units

When it comes to a home’s features, does one’s gender/relationship status impact how they prioritize the features? Walk-in closets, new kitchen appliances, nine-foot ceilings, single-level living – all are distinctive features to a home, and research from NAR suggests

First-time homebuyers are a scarce bunch, these days. Just when it seemed that the news on first-time homebuyers could not get any more distressing, here comes a new report from RealtyTrac to pour salt on the wounds. In short,

It’s a whole new world out there for new construction, as stunning stat after stunning stat drives home. The Census Bureau’s latest report on new single-family home sales is out, and its findings, at least on the surface, were

SmartAsset evaluated refinancing around Illinois and the country to find that Chicago residents are saving more. In Cook County, Chicagoans are saving more each year on mortgage refinancing than anywhere else in the state, an analysis from SmartAsset, a

The past few months, we’ve reported on the many thorny issues facing Millennials – that their wages in many industries have plummeted in recent years; that their savings rate is negative; that they have pushed roommate rates up to

Chicago continued to trail the pack in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Home prices in the Chicagoland metro area put up disappointing numbers in the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, falling 0.9 percent from November to December and

In a recent article on new construction, we reported that the multifamily share of total construction had risen from 17.2 percent of the market in Jan. 2002 to 35.1 percent of the market in Jan. 2015. Such a striking

Agents are working hard to make 2015 a profitable year, but low inventories are keeping sales slow. January marked the start of a new year, but it was hardly the hit the ground running beginning the market was hoping

January was a rough month of real estate in the Chicagoland area. The numbers aren’t pretty: in the nine-county Chicagoland area, home sales fell 5.2 percent year-over-year to 5,619, according to the latest analysis from IAR; meanwhile, sales were

Whenever you see a report on America’s evaporating middle class, you should think about the implications for housing. Homeownership is a defining symbol of American middle class life; indeed, the quintessential image of a single-family detached house, complete with

Builder confidence is far above the rate of new construction; what gives? Here’s an interesting nuance to the housing recovery: the Housing Market Index, which tracks builder confidence, dropped a couple points from January to February, finishing at 55;

Just how dramatic has housing shifted towards rentals, in the last seven years? Fifty-two percent of Chicago residents now live in rental housing, up from 46 percent in 2006; as if that weren’t enough, the renter population in Chicago

Why are mortgage rates still so low? Allow us to count the ways. Average rates for the 30-year FRM may have ticked up last week, but they remain at their lowest point since May 2013. What’s behind the low stature