The Counselors of Real Estate, an international organization for commercial real estate professionals, ranked what its membership body recently voted on as the current and emerging issues it expects to have the most significant impact on real estate.  Topping

Trump prioritizes affordable housing with executive order President Trump signed an executive order June 25 to propose “eliminating regulatory barriers to affordable housing.” Secretary Ben Carson of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will chair a new

Less than a week after the National Association of Realtors reported stronger than expected existing-home sales for the month of May, there’s more good news for the U.S. housing market. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index for May came in

The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University (JCHS) recently released its annual State of the Nation’s Housing report for 2019. For more than 30 years now, JCHS has put out a comprehensive report on trends in the

The median sales price for single-family homes and condos sold in May broke $400,000, with condo prices hitting a new all-time high, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.  Single-family home sales across the state were up 6.2 percent

In March, the luxury home market saw the largest drop in sales since 2010 with an 8.3 percent year-over-year decrease in closings, according to data gathered by Realtor.com. There were just 8,343 sales in excess of $1 million across

There is a recipe for disaster involving agents, buyers and sellers that every agent aims to avoid. Chicago real estate attorney and first-time homebuyer instructor Ranj Mohip calls it “Post-Close Nightmares.” When the seller doesn’t disclose history, the buyer

Approximately 450 members of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors convened at the Massachusetts State House in Beacon Hill earlier this month as part of an annual “lobbying day.” Members came prepared with a packed agenda for their meetings and

MA housing costs among nation’s highest compared to wages The minimum wage needed to afford the median two-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts is the third-highest in the country at $33.81 an hour according to a report from the National Low

Existing-home sales finally grew in May after two months of downbeat reports, according to the latest monthly snapshot of U.S. housing activity from the National Association of Realtors. Closed sales of previously-owned homes increased by 2.5 percent over April’s

Investors claim growing share of US home sales Despite still-growing prices that have exceeded their pre-recession peaks in some markets, more single-family homes around the U.S. are being purchased by investors rather than owner-occupants. According to a report from

Optimism struck in the second quarter of 2019 with 73 percent of Americans saying they believe now is a good time to sell a home, an increase from 65 percent in the first quarter based on a consumer survey

The Federal Reserve announced June 19 that it would not make changes to targets for its key interest rate, the federal funds rate, which influences what banks charge for consumer loans including mortgages. However, in line with some projections,

Numbers released June 18 by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show that housing starts fell during the month of May, although building permit issues increased. Privately-owned housing starts dropped by 0.9

Newly appointed mortgage finance regulator Mark Calabria has made no secret of his goal to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-controlled corporations with enormous sway over the U.S. mortgage market. However, it remains unclear exactly what the

Back when chatbots first gained traction in 2016, most people thought they’d never engage with a virtual assistant to get the information they needed, let alone try to use one in their own business. But now it’s 2019 and