National News

How Does Thanksgiving Impact Real Estate?

The ins and outs of buyer traffic around the holidays It has been long been considered common knowledge that the buying craze of Black Friday does not extend to real estate, thanks to a lack of large savings for homes

Boston Among Nation’s Worst Cities for Thanksgiving Travel

According to Google Maps data, Boston is one of the worst cities in the country for Thanksgiving travel. Out of 21 cities that Google investigated, Boston came in at No. 17, with long-time traffic haven Los Angeles on top.

Mortgage Applications Up Despite TRID

We’re approaching two months since the implementation of TRID, and after a string of weeks that saw declining originations, mortgage applications were back up in the week ending Nov. 13, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. In the two

Existing-Home Sales Decline, Market Continues to Improve

Homes sales were down in October, but the overall picture remains a very positive one for housing Existing-home sales declined 3.4 percent from September to October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million, according to the latest report

FHA Reserves Back in Line with Federal Requirements

In another marker of the housing market’s recovery, the Federal Housing Administration announced last week that its reserves were back in line with federal requirements. The FHA stated that its insurance fund’s net worth at the end of September was

6 Facts about the Homes Consumers Purchased in 2015

Single family? Condo? 2,000-plus square feet? What defined the homes consumers bought this year? For our latest story in our continuing series on NAR’s 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, we’re taking a detailed look at the homes

As Apartment Building Falls, So Does the New Construction Marketplace

October provided yet more evidence of how integral multifamily building is to the current new construction economy October was a rough month for new construction, with housing starts falling 11 percent from September and 1.8 percent from Oct. 2014

Are America’s Large Homes Bad for Energy Efficiency?

Is our love for large homes nullifying the progress in energy efficiency? Thanks to new technological advances in water use, insulation, heating and cooling and household appliances, today’s homes are more energy efficient than ever before. Yet new research

FHA Announces Changes to Condo Policies

Last Thursday, Federal Housing Administration Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ed Golding and National Association of Realtors President Chris Polychron announced changes to FHA condominium policies at the NAR national conference in San Diego. The changes, Golding explained, will change

Disproportionately High Rents Spoil Homeownership Dream

Many want to own a house, but the finances are only feasible for an increasingly select few It is a truth universally acknowledged that the vast majority of renters in America aspire to homeownership. Indeed, according to a recent

NAHB: Builder Confidence Slips in November

After some very positive months, builder confidence took a step back in November Builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes slipped three points to 62 from October to November in the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo

5 Things You Need to Know About NAR’s Upstream Initiative

NAR and RPR push forward with Upstream initiative The National Association of Realtors and Realtors Property Resource have made an agreement with UpstreamRE LLC to develop a cross-industry platform for real estate data entry, collection and distribution for real

The 6 Characteristics of Homebuyers in 2015

What does the typical homebuyer look like in 2015? Earlier this week, we reported on first-time homebuyers, and how they are now at their lowest market share since 1987. That information came courtesy of the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers

Black Mortgage Applicants Denied at Twice the Normal Rate in Boston

Mortgage markets have improved, but the inequities are still pronounced Black mortgage applicants in the Greater Boston area are denied at more than twice the rate of all applicants, according to new research from Zillow. All Applicants (2013) Black Applicants (2013)

The 5 Most Expensive Areas in Boston

Coldwell Banker released their 2015 Home Listing Report, which details the highest and lowest average price for four-bedroom, two-bathroom houses in markets across the United States. Here are the top five most expensive areas in Massachusetts, along with the

6 Important Facts about First-Time Homebuyers

First-time homebuyers continue to lose market share in today’s housing market First-time homebuyer share has dropped to its lowest level in 27 years, with just 32 percent of all existing-home sales going to first-time buyers in 2015. That was one

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