Whenever you see a report on America’s evaporating middle class, you should think about the implications for housing. Homeownership is a defining symbol of American middle class life; indeed, the quintessential image of a single-family detached house, complete with

Builder confidence is far above the rate of new construction; what gives? Here’s an interesting nuance to the housing recovery: the Housing Market Index, which tracks builder confidence, dropped a couple points from January to February, finishing at 55;

Just how dramatic has housing shifted towards rentals, in the last seven years? Sixty percent of Boston residents now live in rental housing, up from 55 percent in 2006; as if that weren’t enough, the renter population in Boston is up 23 percent in

Why are mortgage rates still so low? Allow us to count the ways. Average rates for the 30-year FRM may have ticked up last week, but they remain at their lowest point since May 2013. What’s behind the low stature

What Boston-area housing markets have seen median prices rise the most? The Boston area contains some of the most competitively priced housing markets in Massachusetts, but what areas have seen median sales prices rise the most since 2005? To

It was the same old story in January, with multifamily construction leading the way. Another year, another setting for multifamily dominance in residential construction. That was the central lesson from the Census Bureau’s latest report, which found multifamily permits, starts

A new study from the Federal Reserve brings more evidence to the table on the damaging economic effects of high student debt burdens We’re written in the past about the effects of student loan debt on the housing market

The last couple weeks, we’ve been analyzing exclusive numbers from the CoreLogic Housing Credit Index, a detailed look at mortgage availability. Our central question has been a simple one: is it any easier, nowadays, to attain a mortgage? And after

CoreLogic report shows widespread drops in cash sales. Cash sales continued to drop in November, according to a new report from CoreLogic, which found an increasingly significant portion of all-cash buyers leaving the market, particularly investors. Ebbing closer to

It’s been a rollercoaster ride following the nation’s mortgage markets, so we decided to take a more long-term view at some of the key stats at play – and how, with only one exception, things have improved by quite

Minority groups have a harder time accessing mortgages in the U.S., including here in Boston. In the Boston metro area, 22.8 percent of African-Americans are denied in their applications for conventional mortgages, according to a new analysis from Zillow; that’s three times

Foreclosure activity in 2014 ended well, but pockets remain in dire straights. To cap off 2014, the national foreclosure inventory continued deflating, falling a staggering 34 percent year-over-year, according to CoreLogic’s newest foreclosure report. As of December, the nation’s

Boston did not set the world on fire with its rise in asking prices, but that’s perfectly fine Asking prices in Boston began 2015 on a sobering note, according to the Trulia Price Monitor. Prices were up 4.2 percent year-over-year in January,

One may think that warmer months are better for selling homes, but the data tells another story. What if we were to tell you that it really makes no difference when you list your client’s home, in terms of

There were some very positive things to report in the government’s latest job numbers. The U.S. economy started out 2015 with a bang, adding 257,000 jobs in January, according to the latest report from the Labor Department. Of course, there

We’ve covered multifamily ascendence before, but this is the most telling statistic of all. Earlier this week, we reported on two facets of new construction: first, that overall construction spending in Boston dropped in 2014; and second, that the nationwide growth