National News

Home prices continue to rise while existing home sales slow, inventory tightens

Existing home sales declined to their lowest level since November 2015, according to the September National Association of Realtors existing home sales report. Existing home sales dropped to 5.15 million in September, a 3.4 percent drop from August and

Homeownership a higher priority for millennials than travel, marriage, children

Homeownership is the biggest priority for millennials, according to the latest Bank of America Insights Report. A little over 70 percent of those surveyed said homeownership is their top priority, outranking traveling (61 percent), getting married (50 percent) and

Zillow: It takes the average person seven years to save up a down payment

It would take the average American seven years to save up enough to make a down payment on a home, according to Zillow’s latest report. This is longer compared to 20 years ago when it took the average American

2018 Agents’ Choice Awards—Best New Development, Suburbs: Port Clinton Place, Opus Group

Port Clinton Place Opus Group Port Clinton Place is part of a mixed-use development that provides a gateway to the local community. The construction of a luxury condominium building and rowhome residences was a vital piece of that development.

2018 Agents’ Choice Awards—Developer of the Year, City: Related Midwest

Related Midwest Related Midwest, the Chicago office of Related Companies, is the preeminent developer of luxury condominium and rental homes, affordable housing communities and mixed-use properties in Chicago. Known for its architecturally significant, market-defining projects, including 500 Lake Shore

Real Estate in Brief: Sight-unseen offers decrease, Zillow names new head of federal government relations and more

Fewer homebuyers are making purchases sight-unseen, according to Redfin. In a recent survey, only 20 percent of recent homebuyers made an offer sight-unseen compared to the 35 percent in 2017. In May, Redfin analysts noticed sight-unseen offers returned to

Where does Chicago rank among US cities in terms of immigrant homeownership?

The United States currently has the highest percentage of immigrants since 1910 with 13.7 percent of the population being foreign-born. This has led to economic growth from 2011 to 2016 that accounted for much of the nation’s post-recession growth

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

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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,

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