National News

Tight Inventories Push Down Pending Home Sales

Pending home sales in November declined for the third time in four months as buyers continue to battle both rising home prices and limited homes available for sale, according to the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home Sales

CFPB Takes Reassuring Tone Among TRID Complaints

Existing-home sales fell more than 10 percent in November, marking the slowest sales pace in 19 months and possibly serving as quantifiable proof of the effect TRID is having on the industry, according to National Association of Realtors Chief

Homeownership Out of Reach for Many Boston Renters

Stagnant wages and high rents combine to push homeownership out of reach for thousands of Bostonians More than 500,000 renters in the Boston housing market struggle with the cost of housing, according to a new report from the Joint Center of Housing Studies

Strong November New Homes Sales Could Make for Best Year Since 2007

New home sales are shaping up for their best year since 2007 Sales of new single-family homes in November rose 4.3 percent from October and 9.1 percent from Nov. 2014 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 490,000, according

What Rising Rents and Declining Affordability Mean for Housing

Housing is on a precipice of affordability, according to a new study The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University has offered some unflinching examinations of the nation’s housing market, particularly in terms of affordability and the growing

Is Young Adult Homeownership Ready for a Turnaround?

Data suggests the young adult homeownership rate is stabilizing After decades of decline, the 25-to-34-year-old homeownership rate has begun to level out, seeing no significant decline in 2014, according to Fannie Mae’s Housing Insights report. That trend, according to

[UPDATED] Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Act Extended To 2017

UPDATE: Congress has adjourned for 2016 without extending the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Act, which will now expire at the end of the year. Read our coverage here for the full story. As part of a wider piece of tax legislation,

Is the American Middle Class Disappearing? 4 Stats to Consider

Where does America’s middle class stand financially? New analysis from the Pew Research Center explains The U.S. middle class, which has long defined the country’s economic prosperity, is no longer the majority of Americans. That eye-grabbing finding came courtesy of

November a Universally Strong Month for New Construction

It was a month of thanksgiving for the nation’s homebuilders November offered U.S. homebuilders many reasons to give thanks, with permits, starts and completions all in positive territory. According to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau, building

How the Construction Sector will Help Lead Job Growth Over Next Decade

New projections from the country’s Bureau of Labor Statistics forecast big job gains for the construction sector over the next decade and emphasize the growing importance of environmentally conscious building. Over the 10-year period beginning in 2014 and ending

How will Buyers React to the First Interest Rate Hike Since 2008?

The federal funds rate will rise by 0.25 percent The Federal Reserve announced today that it will raise the federal funds rate, the key interest rate that influences mortgage, auto loans and other forms of financing, by 0.25 percent. Additionally,

Homebuyers Increasingly Seek One-Stop Home Shopping

One-stop shopping offers benefits to homebuyers, but they still want agents’ help Fifty percent of recent homebuyers used one source, or one-stop shopping (OSS), to procure homebuying services, according to a National Association of Realtors survey. That is compared to 29 percent

How Long Does it Take to Save For A Downpayment on New Construction?

America sees a range of three to 26 years to save for a downpayment, depending on the state It takes 7.56 years for an average first-time homebuyer to save for a down payment on a new home in Massachusetts, according

NAHB: Builder Confidence Drops Slightly in December

Builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes remained relatively flat in December, dropping one point to 61 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). David Crowe, the NAHB’s chief economist, said past

What Size Homes Do Consumers Want in 2015?

What is the preferable home size? The median size for homes purchased in 2015 was 1,900 square feet, according to the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from the National Association of Realtors. Beyond that median, though, NAR uncovered

How Have Fannie Mae’s 3% Mortgages Affected Housing?

Fannie Mae’s 3-percent down-payment policy was met with praise and skepticism in equal parts, but how has it impacted housing? It was last October when Fannie Mae announced that, in an effort to broaden credit access, it would lower its

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