National News

Guaranteed Rate Releases Q4 National Mortgage Market Summary

Guaranteed Rate released its quarterly summary of the mortgage market, which found an increase in purchased loans and a return of the ARM. Analyzing data housed in its massive database of home loans, Guaranteed Rate, one of the nation’s

Are Lending Standards Looser For Refinancing Than For Purchasing?

Last week, we reported that lending standards have see-sawed up and down the spectrum the last few years, but does that trend change at all when we look at the separate lending standards for refinancing and purchasing loans? Once

Affordability Evaporates as New Construction Trends Towards Affluence

We reported last week that in 2014, the median sales price for a newly built single-family home set a new record, closing out the year at $283,600. That’s not only 5.5 percent above 2013, but also a whopping 28.3 percent

Strong Multifamily Sector Drives New Construction in 2014

Construction on the whole was positive in 2014, but that was mostly due to the surging multifamily sector. Private construction may have been up 4.5 percent in 2014, but it was the multifamily housing market that drove that activity,

How Boston Will See 50,795 New Homebuyers Enter the Market

Hundreds of thousands of potential homebuyers will be boomeranging back to the housing market over the next seven years. The Boston area is poised to see more than 50,000 potential homebuyers enter the housing market fray over the next seven

The Best Development in Housing? We Have It Right Here

Existing-home sales may have bounced back to life in Dec 2014 (and carried median sales price to its highest mark since 2007), but that was hardly the most encouraging piece of news in NAR’s latest housing report. No, that

Pending Home Sales Lose Strength as Year Ends

Pending home sales took a step back in December, but remain well above 2013 levels. The National Association of Realtors released its newest Pending Home Sales Index today, finding that despite persistently low interest rates, December pending home sales

No End in Sight For Boston’s Inventory Spiral

We’re all waiting for Boston’s housing inventory situation to improve…but that has yet to happen. The inventory situation in Boston continued to worsen in 2014, according to new numbers from realtor.com. Per realtor.com’s analysis, inventory in Boston dropped by a whopping 19.3

Supreme Court Hears Arguments Against Landmark Housing Equality Legislation

The Federal Housing Act has helped curb housing discrimination since the late 60s. A new lawsuit could see to extend those protections or limit them.   On April 4, 1968, a historic date by any measure, civil rights leader Martin

ListHub Releases New Details on Zillow Split

ListHub publishes letter offering new details on their forthcoming split with Zillow, while Zillow finds new MLS provider. In a bombshell statement released in early January, Zillow announced that as of April 7 the listing portal would no longer

Boston Home Prices Moderate Further in New Case-Shiller

Home prices in the Boston area did not set the indices on fire in the latest Case-Shiller. Home prices in the Boston area continued to moderate in November, falling 0.2 percent from October but rising a modest 4.0 percent from Nov. 2013, according

December Sales Hit 7 Year Peak, Threaten Affordability

Strong late year sales emphasize the presence of persisting demand, but low inventory could lead to eventual affordability problems. Existing-home sales faltered moving into the deep winter months, but according to a new report from the National Association of

Special Report: Distressed Sales Nearly Nonexistent in Housing Today

Here is an undeniably positive development in the housing recovery. Distressed home sales – such as the one in our photo above – were the most visible result of the housing downturn, a true sign of the unfortunate times.

Will a ‘Strong’ U.S. Dollar Ruin International Real Estate in the U.S.?

Foreign home sales have been a big deal in the U.S., but could the strengthening economic climate change that? Foreign real estate has been a big deal in the U.S. during the housing recovery, and the numbers speak for themselves

3 Ways the 2014 Homebuilding Market Bested 2013

How was 2014’s homebuilding market better than 2013’s? Allow us to count the ways… The numbers are in, and they’re quite clear in their conclusions – by every possible metric, 2014’s homebuilding market represented a strong improvement over 2013.

When to Schedule Closings: A Review of 2014

Danielle Hale of NAR tackles existing-homes sales to determine what the most popular closing dates of 2014 were. It’s a whimsical if not slightly tired cliché to say “it’s all in the timing,” but in rare form, it’s one

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