National News

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Boston sees second highest drop in homes for sale in March

Homes sold faster this March than any other March in seven years, thanks to rising demand and still-shrinking inventory, according to Redfin’s recent housing market report. Home sales jumped 9 percent in March when compared with March 2016, even as

Vacation home sales plummet

Vacation home sales have dropped significantly, according to a recent study by the National Association of Realtors. Only accounting for 12 percent of all transactions in 2016, vacation home sales fell to an estimated 721,000 transactions—the lowest since 2013 (which saw

Tesla announces new residential solar products set to hit the market by the end of 2017

  Tesla announced their new solar panels on their website last weekend, offering an alternative option from their solar roof tiles released last fall, which Tesla will begin taking orders for this month. The panels are expected to have an install

The real story behind the nationwide housing shortage

A nationwide inventory shortage is hampering the housing market’s growth, but the shortage isn’t uniformly affecting every market. In fact, a market is more likely to have a housing shortage if its housing prices have recovered to pre-crash highs,

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Affording a down payment is biggest hurdle to homeownership, Bostonians say

About 70 percent of renters say securing enough cash for a traditional down payment is the biggest obstacle to buying a home, according to a study by Zillow. With an average mortgage payment costing less on a monthly basis

Consumers recognize seller’s market with rising home prices

  Housing confidence fell 3.8 percentage points in March following a survey high in February, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index ®. The net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy fell

5 facts that explain Older Boomers’ homebuying habits

With all the talk of Millennials and how they fit into the housing market, retirement-age Baby Boomers don’t get a lot of attention as a home-buying population. The numbers show, however, that “Older Boomers” aged 62 to 70 years

Average mortgage size reaches record high

The average mortgage size is $318,200, which is the largest it has been in the 27-years of The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly purchase loan data survey. There are multiple factors leading to higher mortgages in the United States beyond larger

Federal housing laws protect LGBT citizens, court rules

LGBT people have protection against housing discrimination under the Federal Fair Housing Act, a federal judge ruled for the first time last week. The federal law prevents landlords from refusing to rent or sell housing to anyone based on

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9 stats that show homebuyers want green technology

Sustainability and an environmentally friendly community are amenities that more and more homebuyers are looking for, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors. Here is perhaps the most obvious sign that green technology is a

Boston is one of the best cities for black homeownership, study says

Nearly 50 years after the passing of the Fair Housing Act, minority households still have lower ownership rates and higher rent burdens than white households, a recent study by Trulia found. But progress made in some cities is helping

First-time homebuyers make up nearly one-third of February sales

  First-time homebuyers accounted for 32 percent of all residential sales in February 2017, marking minimal change from January 2017 (33 percent) and February of last year (30 percent), according to the National Association of Realtors. Nationally, demand has

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Education levels impact post-recession homeownership for Millennials, study shows

For Millennials seeking to become homeowners, level of education may be more of a determining factor than any other socioeconomic indicator, according to a newly published white paper. The study by Fannie Mae comes as the industry seeks to

New home contracts are nearing decade highs

Pending home sales made an unexpected jump in February, leading contract signings to their second highest mark since 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR’s pending home sales index showed a 5.5 percent jump in homes under contract,

Demand for 55-plus communities takes off

Toning it down after retirement is becoming a thing of the past. Many over the age of 55 are looking to downsize in scale and upsize the fun. Communities exclusively serving that age group are growing in popularity, according to reports. These

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Home prices continue to rise, hit 31-month peak in January

Home prices continued to increase into the new year, making January the fifth straight month of record-high home prices, according to new S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, which measure U.S. home prices. The latest version of the indices, generated by S&P

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