Industry News
Homeowner Groups Seek to Stop Investors From Buying Houses to Rent
Small groups of neighborhood volunteers are blocking companies from buying single-family homes, rewriting homeownership rulebooks to thwart investor purchases of suburban housing. These groups, called homeowner associations, spend much of their time enforcing rules...
Electric Shocks: The U.S. Cities Where People Are Spending the Most—and the Least—on Energy Bills
Climate change seems like an abstract concept—albeit an existentially scary one—to many Americans. What’s less abstract is skyrocketing energy costs. That all-too-tangible burden is something more homeowners are dealing with each month in the face of colder winters...
How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is Already Rippling Through the U.S. Housing Market
Russia’s deadly invasion of Ukraine has set much of the world on edge, with many fearing this could become the largest conflict since World War II. Russian airstrikes battering Ukrainian cities and bases have already roiled financial markets around the globe, rippling...
Yikes! 6 Surprising Problems First-Time Homebuyers Often Overlook
First-time homebuyers may be the ones who use the term “dream house” the most. And they may also be the ones who then wake up in their new home and ask, “What was I thinking?!” about the property they bought. Or, more accurately, “not thinking.” Real estate rookies...
Good News for Buyers? New-Home Construction Activity Increases, Amid a Surge in Building Permits
The numbers: U.S. home builders started construction on homes at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of roughly 1.7 million in December, representing a 1% increase from the previous month, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday. Compared with December 2020, housing...
Last Summer’s Breakneck Pace of Home-Price Growth May Finally Ease as Mortgage Rates Rise
The numbers: The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city price index posted a 18.3% year-over-year gain in November, down slightly from 18.5% the previous month. On a monthly basis, the index increased 0.9% between October and November. Meanwhile, the Case-Shiller...
What Is a Tax Sale Property and How Do Tax Sales Work?
Normally when you buy a house, you don’t want a home with any outstanding liens against it (that’s also why you pay for a title company). But what happens to those houses with outstanding taxes? You can buy those, too. Or you can just buy the lien and profit from...
Mortgage Rates Fall Below 3% Again—but Rising Prices Mean That Home Buyers Shouldn’t Expect Savings
Home buyers are seeing a break from rising mortgage rates as the bond market finds its equilibrium, but that doesn’t mean most Americans will save money when they purchase property. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.98% for the week ending Nov. 10, down 11...
Natural Disasters Are Now Affecting Where Homebuyers Choose To Live
Homebuyers have become increasingly worried about natural disasters. After witnessing the deadly carnage wrought by wildfires, storms, and the problems related to extreme heat and cold, natural disasters have become top of mind for homebuyers. More than 3 in 4 recent...
‘The Fever Has Broken’: Is the Housing Market Frenzy Really Going To Cool Off This Fall?
Over the next few weeks and months, the long-overheated U.S. housing market is expected to continue to cool off in the bracing chill of autumn. After a wild year of unprecedented price increases, a worsening shortage of homes for sale, and cutthroat bidding...