October marked the 10th consecutive month of decreases in contract signings—not a good sign for the housing market as it starts the traditionally slower months of sales. The National Association of REALTORS®’ Pending Home Sales Index—a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings—fell 2.6 percent to a reading of 102.1 in October. On a year-over-year basis, contract signings plunged 6.7 percent.“The recent rise in mortgage rat
An increasing number of Americans are living in what’s considered wildland-urban interfaces—near forests, grasslands, and scrublands—and it’s putting more homes at risk of fires. Researchers say that wildfires pose the greatest risk to people who live along these wildland-urban interfaces, which was evident once again with the deadly Camp and Woolsey fires in California this month.About 25 million more people live in these wildland-urban
Conforming loan limits got a boost for 2019 in nearly every part of the U.S. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, a regulator for mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced that conforming loan limits will rise in 2019 to $484,350 in most parts of the country. That marks a 6.9 percent increase over this year’s $453,100.The FHFA limits set the maximum single-family mortgage amounts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will finance
Residential property owned by black Americans has been greatly undervalued, a newly released joint Brookings Institution and Gallup study suggests. Homes in majority-black neighborhoods consistently sell or are appraised for lower prices, by an average of $48,000 per home, researchers found. That amounts to $156 billion in cumulative losses nationwide.Homes of similar value with similar features are valued at 23 percent less in majority-black ne
Rising mortgage rates and home prices may prove a bigger thorn to home buyers in 2019 as buying a home gets more expensive in the new year. Meanwhile, as more homeowners list their homes, sellers will face greater competition, possibly increasing the need for concessions.Mortgage rates are forecast to reach 5.5 percent by the end of the year, and monthly mortgage payments will increase 8 percent. That could put homeownership more out of reach to
Household debt levels have reached a record high of $13.5 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Many of these financial woes are from housing.“Escalating rises in real estate prices are causing more consumers to be stretched,” Eric Tyson, co-author of Mortgages for Dummies, told realtor.com®. “In the years ahead, we could reach the point where it really puts a lid on future price appreciation.”Realtor.co
When asked about life priorities, millennials name homeownership as their second-highest goal behind retirement—and before marriage and having children, according to Bank of America’s 2018 Homebuyer Insight Report. Seventy-two percent of millennials say owning a home is their top priority, while 50 percent pointed to marriage and 44 percent to having children.“Millennials are redefining life’s priorities by placing homeownership above ne
Teton County, Wyo., is the richest county in the United States, where residents earn an average income that is 10 times higher than those who live in the poorest county, Hayes County, Neb., according to a new analysis from personal finance website SmartAsset. Residents in Teton County, which is home to Grand Teton National Park, earn an average $214,800 annually, most of which comes from real estate investments.“The counties whose well-heeled,
Federal agencies have proposed a plan to reduce the number of homes that require an in-person appraisal, hoping to speed up the closing process and save money for home buyers and borrowers looking to refinance. Under the proposal, which was developed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in-person appraisals would be necessary only for homes
There was a hint of smoke in the air on the morning of Nov. 8 in Paradise, Calif. Aubrey Pruis, in his first year as an association executive at the Paradise Association of REALTORS®, was at the office for a meeting with his colleagues when they spotted ember and ash falling from the sky onto the parking lot. They instantly knew this wouldn’t be an ordinary day.At the time, flames from a wildfire raging nearby hadn’t yet reached Paradise. Bu
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