National News

Real Estate in Brief: Market insights, homebuilder leadership and more

Luxury Portfolio International‘s 2018 Global Luxury Real Estate report found that, globally, almost 40 percent of high-net-worth individuals will be looking to buy property but only 23 percent are willing to sell. With the imbalance of purchase intent, the market could experience

Zillow: Suburban home affordability rivaling urban levels in many markets

With home prices rising across the country, many buyers may think that moving out to the suburbs is the solution to finding a home that they can afford. However, suburban areas are now rivaling urban areas in affordability in

Study: Higher property values influence homeowner voter participation

A recent study from two members of Stanford University’s political science department finds a strong positive relationship between voter turnout rates and property values among homeowners. Along with a growing body of research around how homeowners vote, this could

Home prices continue to rise while existing home sales slow, inventory tightens

Existing home sales declined to their lowest level since November 2015, according to the September National Association of Realtors existing home sales report. Existing home sales dropped to 5.15 million in September, a 3.4 percent drop from August and

Homeownership a higher priority for millennials than travel, marriage, children

Homeownership is the biggest priority for millennials, according to the latest Bank of America Insights Report. A little over 70 percent of those surveyed said homeownership is their top priority, outranking traveling (61 percent) getting married (50 percent) and

Real Estate in Brief: Sight-unseen offers decrease, Zillow names new head of federal government relations and more

Fewer homebuyers are making sight-unseen purchases, according to Redfin. In a recent survey, only 20 percent of recent homebuyers made an offer sight-unseen compared to the 35 percent in 2017. In May, Redfin analysts noticed sight-unseen offers returned to

See the US cities with the highest immigrant homeowner rates

The United States currently has the highest percentage of immigrants since 1910 with 13.7 percent of the population being foreign-born. This has led to economic growth from 2011 to 2016 that accounted for much of the nation’s post-recession growth

Real Estate in Brief: Americans still want their dream home, foreclosure rates shrink and more

Americans are fixated on owning their dream homes despite the current housing market trends, a new survey from the PenFed Credit Union National Mortgage Survey revealed. Over the next two years 37 percent of adults and 52 percent of

Zillow: Younger Americans more likely to use money for down payment over renovations

Two-thirds of homeowners would prefer to renovate their current home rather than make a down payment on a new one, according to a new report from Zillow. Overall, it seems that homeowners are happy with their current homes, with

Rising home values can help homeowners, but it may cost them

Thanks to rising home values, more American homeowners are looking to tap into home equity that continues to grow, according to a recent survey conducted by Bankrate.com and research firm GfK f. But even though leveraging home equity into

Real Estate in Brief: Zillow lawsuit tossed, Trump tax evasion, and more

After almost five years of record-low inventory and record-high prices, prospective homebuyers are finally experiencing some relief. Realtor.com released their September housing report which revealed that new listings to the housing market saw an 8 percent increase over this time last year. With 465,000

Hugh Frater announced as Fannie Mae interim CEO beginning next week

Fannie Mae named Hugh Frater as the interim CEO as Tim Mayopoulos announced he will step down Oct. 15. In July, Mayopoulos announced he would be leaving his position at the end of this year. Frater will serve as

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What keeps buyers from choosing new construction?

New construction homes continue to attract buyers, with an estimated 38 percent of all buyers considering a newly constructed home over the past year, according to a report released by Zillow Group. However, only 11 percent purchased one. Zillow

Real Estate in Brief: Reverse mortgages, annoying neighbors and more

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued this Friday a new policy that will be implemented on Oct. 1, requiring second property appraisal on loans previously indicated by the FHA as potentially having inflated property valuation from reverse mortgage lenders.

Realogy, Keller Williams are latest to test iBuyer service

More national brokerages have announced plans to join other real estate firms like Zillow and Opendoor in piloting an instant-offer home listing service, often known as iBuying. On Sept. 25, Realogy, which owns major residential brokerages like Coldwell Banker,

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NAR names new marketing, government affairs leaders

The National Association of Realtors announced new additions to the senior leadership staff of its marketing and government affairs divisions. According to an Oct. 2 press release, the association named Victoria Gillespie as chief marketing and communications officer, effective immediately,