National News

Builder Confidence Hits Yearly High in June

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in June rose five points to 59 on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). That is the highest level of confidence since Sept. 2014.

Chicago Among Most Affordable Housing Markets for Millennials

Chicago is still budget-friendly for Millennials Although skyrocketing housing costs and limited space have kept Millennials from buying housing in popular metropolitan areas, Chicago’s housing market is still in the range of affordability for the average Millennial. Bloomberg L.P.,

CFPB Proposes TILA-RESPA Delay

  On June 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a proposed amendment to delay the effective date of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1, 2015. In the announcement, CFPB Director Richard Cordray described

TILA-RESPA: A Builder’s Perspective

How builders should prepare for TILA-RESPA Pending the approval of a proposed amendment to extend its compliance deadline to Oct. 1, in less than two months, the real estate industry will find itself operating under of TILA-RESPA. Depending on

Top 10 Dangers Facing Brokers Today

Brokers and their businesses face 10 big dangers – none of them easily solved The real estate industry is on a precipice, and how it falls from that point will determine its future. That was the central statement – if not

Multifamily Housing is Driving New Construction in 2015

New construction up in 2015, rising on the shoulders of the multifamily sector Housing starts may have been down 11.1 percent from April to May in the Census Bureau’s latest report, but building permits were an entirely different story.

Single-Person Households on the Rise

Single-person housing is becoming a long-term solution, even into older years One of the most pronounced trends since the 1940s is the rise of the single-person household. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, single-person households were the second most common household type

Multifamily Dominates New Construction in Chicagoland

In the last 10 years, the market share for multifamily construction has grown by an extraordinary amount In April, the most recent month for which we have data, multifamily construction soared 35.5 percent across the country from March. That was

TILA-RESPA: Industry Leaders Urge Congress For More Time

A letter from industry leaders to Congress is urging lawmakers for a safety net against the Aug. 1 TRID deadline In less than two months, enforcement of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) regulation, which aims

41% of Americans Think Housing Crisis is Still Happening

Latest housing survey from MacArthur Foundation finds many Americans skeptical of housing and the wider economy What a difference a year makes – or, in the case of the MacArthur Foundation’s “How Housing Matters” survey,  what a difference a

Down Payments are Down, but are Home Sales Up?

Down payment trends may hint at first time homebuyer confidence The average down payment for single-family homes, condos and townhomes was down to 14.8 percent of the purchase price for Q1 2015, the lowest number since Q1 2012, according

7 Important Things about Housing in the Government’s New Jobs Report

Latest jobs report features interesting implications for housing May was a positive month for the U.S. labor market, with the economy adding 280,000 jobs and the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.5 percent, according to the latest analysis from

The Legal System has Ruled – Agents are not Employees

Are real estate agents employees, or independent contractors? Massachusetts’s highest court weighs in The highest court in Massachusetts has settled the matter – real estate agents are independent contractors, not employees. That was the state’s Supreme Judicial Court’s decision

RESO Deadline Set for January 1

The Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) is set to become an industry cost-saver as property data become standardized by the nation’s 850-plus MLS firms. Driving the change is the National Association of Realtors mandated deadline for Realtor-affiliated MLSs of the

Hispanics will be Key Driver of Housing’s Future

The Hispanic demographic struggles to recover from housing crash, but could become a big shaker in future markets Between now and 2020, roughly four out of every 10 new households in the U.S. will be headed by someone of

Hidden Truth Behind 2015’s Soaring New Home Sales

Last month’s new home sales appear hugely positive, but is there a hidden truth behind the numbers? On the surface, it would appear to be a wholly positive development for housing – sales of newly built single-family homes, according to

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