National News

Lumber prices have tripled over the past 12 months, driving up the price of the average new single-family home by $35,872. NAHB hopes to alleviate the situation by meeting with the White House, lawmakers and others.

“This is a sign that the competitive purchase market, driven by low housing inventory and high demand, is pushing prices higher and weighing down on activity.” — Mortgage Bankers Association Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan
Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted housing index rose 1.1% month over month in February and 12% year over year, up from monthly and yearly increases of 0.8% and 11.2% in January, respectively.

Year over year, the pace of sales was up 66.8% nationwide.

The DHS announcement comes in response to businesses reporting an immediate need for supplemental, temporary guest workers for this fiscal year.

As the economy slowly recovers from the early days of the pandemic, the share of loans in forbearance dropped for the seventh consecutive week, signifying a 40-basis-point decrease in the last two weeks.

Housing secretary reaffirms U.S. commitment to closing the racial homeownership gap at a forum with NAR president and top housing officials.

Forty-three percent of respondents to the first-quarter Zillow Home Price Expectations survey expect inventory to improve in the second half of the year, followed by 26% who expect it in the first half of 2022.

Brokers may use their cell phones to make marketing calls and send marketing texts, if the cell phone does not have an app that will automate the dialing system.

“A credit report and credit score are the gateway to a mortgage,” — NAR President Charlie Oppler.

The National Association of Home Builders published the results of its Special Study for Housing Economics, highlighting the 2020 annual census of who makes up its members.

RentPath’s sites, which include ApartmentGuide.com, Lovely, Rent.com, and Rentals.com, will continue to operate as normal while their listings are integrated with Redfin.com, a process that is expected to wrap up in 2022.

Prices in the Boston metro area were up 7.0% over February 2020 with “normal” market condition indicators.

U.S. mortgage rates have increased for six straight weeks, a sign the historic low for mortgage rates is becoming a thing of the past.

The National Association of Realtors sends a message to members that it is working to ensure that the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act will not hurt their status as independent contractors.

Much of the year-over-year increase in home sales was supported by continued robust activity in the Southeast, which saw a 20.2% rise to an annual rate of 458,000 transactions.