National News

Are Home Prices Rising Too Quickly?

The turnaround in home prices has been one of the major narratives of the housing recovery, but could it be a curse disguised as a blessing? By most measures, U.S. home prices fell by more than a third from

Shadow Inventory Down 28 Percent From Peak

Shadow inventory is down an impressive 28 percent from its 2010 peak, but do its effect still languish in certain markets? CoreLogic’s latest report on shadow inventory in the U.S., which surveyed the nation’s inventory of seriously delinquent, REO

Hispanics Dominate Among First-Time Homebuyer Demographic

According to new research from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, homeownership among Hispanics is surging. Hispanics have been garnering increasing attention in recent months for their growing importance to the U.S. housing market, and a new

Tight Inventory Constrains Pending Sales in February

The nation’s shrinking housing inventory has begun affecting pending home sales, the National Association of Realtors has reported. Pending home sales stalled a bit in February, as the nation’s shrinking housing inventory offered homebuyers fewer and fewer choices. The

New Homes Sales in Feb Up 12.3 Percent

Though the sales of new single-family home sales faltered a bit month-to-month, they retained their strong yearly gains. After posting its strongest numbers in more than four years in January, sales of new single-family home sales faltered a bit in

Freddie Mac Predicts Best Spring for Housing in Six Years

The spring homebuying season is an integral time for real estate, and Freddie Mac is predicting 2013’s will be good news all around. The last couple months, there have been repeated signs of a housing recovery. From rising home

Chicago Home Prices Up Yearly, Down Monthly in January Case-Shiller

Nationwide home prices continued to recover in January, but how did our local housing market perform by comparison? Chicago home prices continued to lag behind most of the nation’s major housing markets in January according to the lastest Case-Shiller

NAHB Improving Markets Index Hits 274 Markets in March

The NAHB’s Improving Markets Index improved yet again in March, as more and more metropolitan areas join in on the recovery. The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Improving Markets Index expanded to 274 metropolitan markets in March, as more and

Ask A Lender: Dan Gjeldum, Guaranteed Rate

Q: How has technology improved to help agents work with their clients? A.We’ve seen a shift in how homebuyers get a home simply because the process is made so much easier with technology. For instance, prospective buyers can use

Looks To Leads App Allows Instant Communication for Buyers and Agents

The goal of the new Looks To Leads app is designed to improve communication between agents and their clients, and reach homebuyers and automatically respond to their inquiries via text message, 24 hours a day, at no

How Many Homes are Still Underwater?

Negative equity remains a problem in the U.S. housing market, but as new research by CoreLogic shows, the situation is improving. Riding the wave of home-price increases, roughly 200,000 residential properties returned to a state of positive equity in

Multifamily Housing Isn’t Going Anywhere This Year

Surging demand for multifamily housing was arguably the top real estate story of 2012, and new data from the AIA suggests no slowing down in 2013. 2012 might as well have been the “Year of Multifamily Housing.” Bolstered by

NAR: Existing-Home Sales in Feb at Highest Level in 3 Years

The news was uniformly positive in NAR’s latest existing-sales report, with sales and prices rising but what about housing inventory? Existing-home sales rose 10.2 percent in February year-over-year, while median price was up 11.6 percent according to the latest report

Is Owning Really Cheaper than Renting in Chicago?

Home prices may be rising at a rapid rate, but they’ve done little to minimize the financial appeal of homeownership, according to a new study from Trulia. Trulia released its Winter 2013 Rents vs. Buy Report earlier today, and

Homebuilder Growing Pains – Why Builder Confidence is Slowing Down

For the third straight month, builder confidence, as measured by the NAHB, has stalled; should we be worried about homebuilding in 2013? Builder confidence for the newly built, single-family home market waned yet again in March, with the National Association

3 Great Things Going on in New Construction

The Census Bureau’s latest new construction stats for February were awash with positivity, with building permits, housing starts and completions all up. It’s that time of the month again, when the U.S. Census Bureau releases the latest stats on

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