By Amber Statler-Matthews The top kitchen trends for this year are more choices with kitchen design and accessories, clean and contemporary design, energy efficiency, technology and new materials. “How central the kitchen has become in our lives and our

By Stephanie Sims Buyers can’t always visualize themselves living in newly constructed spaces. Often, buyers are looking at completely bare spaces, not even a model unit. But model units, decorated to appeal to the targeted buyer, can make a

Not all new construction gets listed in Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), but according to LeapRE, 0.9 percent of the listings in MRED in 2011 are new construction listings, and 41.9 percent of those have sold or gone under

By Peter Ricci Economic analysis is among the more unforgiving fields of study in the wide world of

A recent study shows that new homebuyers are finding small living spaces in urban areas more attractive than in previous years. According to an article by Housing Wire the Urban Land Institute of North Texas’ executive vice president of policy

For the second month in a row, new home sales were down monthly but up yearly, increasing 11.4 percent from February 2011 but decreasing 1.6 percent from January 2012’s revised rate of 318,000, according to data just released today

The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), a leading economic indicator of future construction activity, reported positive numbers yet again in February, marking the fourth straight month that the index has been in such territory, according to the most recent press release from the American Institute of

Research firm CoreLogic released its latest residential shadow inventory study yesterday, reporting that the ever-nebulous sector of housing in January 2012 stood at 1.6 million units, or a six months’

The news cycles have been been abound with positive developments in construction the past couple weeks (and we’ll have a new issue on construction out on Monday), but the Wall Street Journal has just reported on perhaps the most encouraging detail of all

Two developments in the foreclosure market this week, one involving completions and the other construction, have shown that housing is slowly but surely working its way through the distressed inventories that have long plagued the

Existing-home sales continued their strong year-over-year increases with the latest data for February, as sales rose 8.8 percent from last year to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million, according to the National Association of

Standard & Poor’s continued what has been an entire month of credit-friendly news with its reports on first-time default rates, which declined on consumer credit for the second straight month while nonpayments on second lien mortgages hit a new

Throughout most of 2011, the finances at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) received considerable media attention, with analysts and politicians alike predicting the end of the agency. An recent infusion of funds was thought to have alleviated those concerns, but new

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released hugely promising data on February building permits earlier today, reporting a 5.1 percent increase from January and 34.3 percent increase from last year at an annual rate

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) maintained its highest level since June 2007 in March, with the national measure holding steady at 28 and gaining two points in the Midwest to settle at

RE/MAX analysts are reporting great things for February home sales in Chicago. Boosted by unseasonably warm weather and record-low mortgage rates, home sale stats for the seven-county area came in at 4,760 closed sales for the real estate company,