National News

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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Renting is now more popular than owning in Boston, study shows

Homeownership rates are falling in over half of the country’s largest cities as more residents seek out rental agreements, according to a recent Redfin study. Though home sales jumped in 2016 and are projected to climb by a modest 3 percent in

HOA fees are on the rise

  Condo shoppers have more to contend with than just rising home prices. According to a new report from Trulia, homeowners association (HOA) fees are on the rise across the nation. The U.S. has seen a rise in homeowners association

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Freddie Mac to offer automated assessments for borrowers without credit

Freddie Mac will offer automated assessments for borrowers who do not have credit scores, saving time for lenders and expanding its lending service to more prospective customers, according to multiple media reports. Starting in June, borrowers without credit scores

February produces surge in home sales and prices

Across-the-board rises in new home sales, average sales price and inventory were reported in February, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Home sales in February totaled

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Build more homes to combat rising inflation, housing prices, economist says

The historic, nationwide housing inventory shortage could be cured by more new-home construction, real estate economist Lawrence Yun said, but barriers exist before construction can ramp up. Raising interest rates could dampen homebuying activity, with 53 percent of prospective

Appraisers cite lack of pay, glut of regulations as reasons for leaving

Faced with dwindling numbers of appraisers nationwide, the home evaluation industry is speaking out against regulations and industry practices they say are hurting them during a boom time in housing sales. A shortage in appraisers is accepted as fact by many

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Agents and the AHCA

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its highly anticipated analysis of the new legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare on Monday afternoon, including findings that the law will leave millions more people uninsured compared to the current health care

Despite market uncertainty (or perhaps in spite of it) more people want to buy homes, study finds

Every year, Redfin polls recent and prospective homebuyers in an attempt to gauge how people’s views of the housing market have changed, or remained the same, from one year to the next. But this year is different. This year

Report: Most Millennials want a bigger home

Americans live much larger than they did 30 years ago, despite families being slightly smaller. But that doesn’t mean Americans want bigger homes. As a recent Trulia study showed, homeowners suffer from widespread “grass-is-always-greener” syndrome, in which small home

4 Real Estate Tech Startups Agents Need to Watch

Within the family of sites like Zillow and Redfin, there have been a plethora of tech startups emerging from the woodwork over the past couple of years in endless pursuit of streamlining the home buying and selling process. Here are a

Every president’s starting median home price

The median home price nationwide when President Donald Trump took office was $234,900, according to the National Association of Realtors. Apart from Trump, there have been eight presidents to hold office since NAR started compiling comprehensive home sales data

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NAR: Northeast sees bump in existing-home sales in January

  The Northeast saw a jump in existing-home sales in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. And so did most everywhere else. “Much of the country saw robust sales activity last month as strong hiring and improved

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13 things NAR wants in a new CEO

By now about every Realtor knows that the National Association of Realtors is looking for a new chief executive. But in order to know what to look for, a team from Heidrick & Struggles, the search firm hired by

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