National News

Pending Home Sales Decline for Second Straight Month

Housing continues to slow in 2015 Pending home sales were down 2.3 percent from August to September, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors. Closing out the month at 106.8, the Pending Home Sales Index

Why are Builders Constructing So Few Homes?

Single-family home starts are far below the long-term median – why? Builder confidence has posted repeated year-over-year gains in recent months, but the amount of single-family housing starts is not rising to match their confidence, according to a report by The Wall

Has the FHA’s Attempt for More Affordable Housing Backfired?

The FHA’s reduction in insurance premiums may have led to a surge in demand The Federal Housing Administration’s effort to provide relief for homeowners through lower insurance premiums may have backfired, according to a MarketWatch report. The change, which went into effect

3 Big Obstacles to the Housing Recovery

Do these economic trends pose problems for housing’s future? America’s housing market is at a crossroads. In addition to the usual real estate entities that impact its progress – Realtor associations, homebuilders, lending institutions – housing is also privy to the wider

Census Bureau: New Home Sales Disappoint in September

New home sales were down last month, but what about 2015 overall? Autumn has been a lackluster season thus far for new home sales, which rose 2.0 percent month-to-month but fell 11.5 percent year-over-year in September, ending the month at a seasonally adjusted

Case-Shiller: Boston Home Prices Rising Solidly

Home prices in Boston have risen steadily, albeit in line with the national averages Home prices in the Boston metro area rose 0.4 percent monthly and 4.6 percent year-over-year in August, according to the new Case-Shiller Home Price Indices from Standard & Poor’s.

Don’t Hold Your Breath for Any Fannie/Freddie Reforms

Will Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ever change? Investors and housing advocates alike have anxiously awaited government plans to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but recent comments by Obama administration officials indicate they’ll have to wait a bit longer.

How Lagging Economic Optimism Impacts Housing

The economy on a whole may be doing better, but most Americans are not directly experiencing those gains The unemployment rate is currently 5.1 percent, down substantially from where it was five years ago. Since bottoming in March 2009, the

Construction Still Impacted by Labor Shortages

Employees of all backgrounds left the construction industry and didn’t come back More than five years after the housing downturn, homebuilders are still grappling with a lack of construction workers, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. There are 1.3 million

Trulia Highlights Supernatural Hazards

Trulia sought to find some of the most unnaturally hazardous places in the country Halloween is nearly upon us, which means it’s time to break out our jack-o-lanterns, cue up our YouTube mixes for Thriller and The Monster Mash,

Apartment Construction Drives Market in 2015

Without the surging apartment sector, where would new construction be in 2015? Housing starts in September were up 6.5 percent from August and 17.5 percent from Sept. 2014 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.026 million, which is the

BoA Survey: Millennials Confident, Yet Stressed About Money

According to the new Better Money Habits Millennial Report from Bank of America, while 84 percent of Millennials are self-reliant when it comes to managing their own finances, 41 percent are constantly stressed about money. Moreover, the report found that money stress

90 Percent of Homes are Under Insulated

Ninety percent of all U.S. homes are under insulated, according to a new report released by the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA). The report pulled data from the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey and used insulation estimation techniques

Boston on List of Top Cities for Trick-or-Treating

According to Zillow, Boston is No. 7 on the list of best cities for trick-or-treating. San Francisco has topped the list for the fifth year in a row. Other repeats include Minneapolis, Denver and Seattle, along with new appearances by Nashville,

SOC Reports the New Median Size of Single Family Homes

The new median size for single family homes is 2,450 square feet. According to the 2014 Survey of Construction (SOC) data from the Census Bureau and NAHB analysis, this is the second highest average since 2009. Tweet: The new median

62% of Americans Have Almost No Savings

Yet another study finds that a majority of Americans are on financially insecure footing Sixty-two percent of Americans have inadequate savings. That alarming statistic was the main finding of a Google Consumer Survey that GoBankingRates, a national website that

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