News / Features

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Despite winter thaw, Boston’s market was on fire in March

With rising temperatures and continued lack of inventory, this year’s spring homebuying season is expected to be one of the most competitive yet. Especially thirsty are buyers who have been shut out of the market in recent years, and

Millennials spend nearly half their income on rent

It’s common for millennials to be thinking about buying a home or starting a family, but increasing rent prices are holding back many from making the leap into homeownership. An RentCafe analysis of data dating back to 1974 revealed that

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This Week in Boston Real Estate: Commute woes, expensive selling and more

Boston’s commute times are notoriously bad — the city even ranked the 14th-most congested city in the world this year — and they’re only getting worse, changing the way agents market to buyers and sellers. Gary Rogers, a Waltham

US pending home sales rose in February

National pending home sales increased 3.1 percent from January to February, according to the Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors. Despite this increase, the index is still down 4.1 percent from last year to 107.5, likely held

Facebook sued for housing discrimination

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed a lawsuit against Facebook in federal court on March 27, claiming the company’s advertising platform “enable[s] landlords and real estate brokers to bar families with children, women, and others from receiving rental

Boston sales hit winter slump as lack of inventory restricts activity

While single-family home sales in greater Boston dipped 5.5 percent last month to 481, prices hit a new February high — $549,000 — signaling that buyers are eager to snatch up a home, according to the latest report from

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NAR survey reveals dichotomy between housing, economic sentiment

The number of households feeling confident about the economy and their current financial situation is decreasing, which directly impacts their housing sentiments, according to the National Association of Realtors’ Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) survey. Homeowners are increasingly positive about

Homebuyers gear up for a competitive spring market

The spring buying season is expected to be driven by record-breaking inventory lows and a flood of buyers, including those who were unable to snag a home last year. According to a new realtor.com survey of active buyers, this season is

Homeowners have gained the highest amount of equity in four years

The average American homeowner gained about $15,000 in home equity in 2017 — the most since 2013, according to the latest CoreLogic Equity Report. Higher home-equity wealth typically promotes higher spending, and IHS Markit analysis predicts that a gain

Starter home market is worst of all housing segments

The starter home sector is faring worse than the housing market as a whole, according to a recent report by Trulia. Despite overall housing inventory being up 3.3 percent, starter home inventory decreased 14.2 percent from last year to this

Douglas Elliman grows its Boston presence

After entering the Boston market in fall 2017, Douglas Elliman continues to grow in the metro area. The brokerage recently announced that Pamela Cushing and Haley Cutter, co-founders of Boston-based agency Live in Luxury Real Estate, have come aboard.

This Week in Boston Real Estate: NAR 30 Under 30, Back Bay project and more

Realtor magazine from the National Association of Realtors is gearing up to highlight the best young people in the business for its annual 30 Under 30 honors, and some local professionals are in the running. Randy Horn of Compass

The effect of tax reforms on homeownership

The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 makes significant changes to tax benefits for homeowners, including decreasing the limit on borrowing subject to the mortgage interest deduction from $1 million to $750,000, and capping deductions for both

Almost 100,000 members of Generation Z own homes

More than 99,000 members of Generation Z — those born in 1995 or after — have mortgages, according to credit agency TransUnion. While this is less than than every other generation — compared to more than 12 million millennials, nearly 24

First-time homebuyers to get help from MassHousing

First-time homeownership around the country can be prohibitively expensive, with many millennials opting to continue renting or having to borrow money from family. That’s especially true in Boston, with the average home price around the city in 2017 approaching

After two months of declines, US existing-home sales increase in February

After two consecutive months of decline, existing-home sales around the country rebounded by 3 percent from January, according to the National Association of Realtors. Existing-home sales grew from 5.38 million in January to 5.54 million in February and are currently up 1.1 percent