National News

Real Estate in Brief: Americans still want their dream home, foreclosure rates on the decline, and more

Americans are fixated on owning their dream homes despite the current housing market trends, a new survey from the PenFed Credit Union National Mortgage Survey revealed. Over the next two years 37 percent of adults and 52 percent of

Rising home values can help homeowners, but it may cost them

Thanks to rising home values, more American homeowners are looking to tap into home equity that continues to grow, according to a recent survey conducted by Bankrate.com and research firm GfK. But even though leveraging home equity into a

housing-frame-new-construction-builders-homebuilders-new-home
What keeps buyers from purchasing new construction homes?

New construction homes continue to attract buyers as 38 percent of total buyers considered buying a newly constructed home over the past year, according to a report released by Zillow Group. However, only 11 percent purchased one. What has caused

Real Estate in Brief: Zillow lawsuit tossed, Trump tax evasion and more

After almost five years of record-low inventory and record-high prices, prospective homebuyers are finally experiencing some relief. Realtor.com just released its September housing report, which revealed that new listings to the housing market saw an 8 percent increase over this time last

Hugh Frater announced as Fannie Mae interim CEO

Fannie Mae named Hugh Frater as the interim CEO as Tim Mayopoulos announced he will step down next week on Oct. 15. In July, Mayopoulos announced he would be leaving his position at the end of this year. Frater

Realogy, Keller Williams are latest to test iBuyer service

More national brokerages have announced plans to join other real estate firms like Zillow and Opendoor in piloting an instant-offer home listing service, often known as iBuying. On Sept. 25, Realogy, which owns major residential brokerages like Coldwell Banker,

The share of homes selling above list price continues decline, now below 2016 levels

As home price growth slows, the percentage of homes that are going for above their asking price is decreasing. For the four weeks ending on September 23, Redfin found that only 22.9 percent of the homes sold for more than their asking

Real Estate in Brief: New policy on reverse mortgages, Asian Real Estate Association of America conference, and more

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued this Friday that a new policy will be implemented on Oct. 1, requiring second property appraisal on loans previously indicated by the FHA as potentially having inflated property valuation from reverse mortgage lenders.

NAR names new marketing, government affairs leaders

The National Association of Realtors announced new additions to the senior leadership staff of its marketing and government affairs divisions. According to an Oct. 2 press release, the association named Victoria Gillespie as chief marketing and communications officer, effective immediately,

Homeowners feeling more confident in the economy, ready to sell

As home prices continue to rise across the country, homeowners appear ready to sell their homes. A record 77 percent of Americans believe that now is a good time to sell their home, according to the National Association of

Report: Gender and racial inequality continues to impact housing affordability

While housing is still affordable on a national level, growth in household income is decelerating while gender and racial gaps persists. A new study by Free and Clear looked at data provided by the Census Bureau’s 2017 household income report

Century-Demographics-Chicago-Ethnicity
Real Estate in Brief: Rising interest rates, the smart home market and more

The Federal Reserve attempts to regulate accelerated inflation by raising interest rates for the third time this year, as reported by HousingWire. The Fed’s key rates have increased by .25 percent, to a current total of 2.25 percent. This rate hike is now the eighth since 2015, as

Sen. Warren introduces $450 billion bill to fund housing affordability

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced an expansive bill to Congress Sept. 26 that would fund a wide spectrum of initiatives to bolster housing finance and enable more Americans to become homeowners. Called the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act

Housing legislation struggles through Congress

The cost of living in a home has outpaced the wage growth of the average U.S. citizen, and is becoming an urgent concern for millions. Apartment List found that housing affordability is an evident determining factor for the quality of life

Pending home sales continue to see declines

Pending home sales fell for the eighth straight month on an annual basis, according to the August report from the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home Sales Index dropped 1.8 percent from July’s 106.1 to 104.2 in August,

Homebuyer traffic remains strong despite slight slowdown

Realtors across many states in the nation reported slower homebuying activity in August as the Realtors Buyer Traffic Index fell to 57 from 69 in August 2017, according to the August 2018 Realtors Confidence Index Survey. Homebuying activity in

New Subscribe

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.