Trends

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Cheaper to Own, But Most People Still Rent

Owning a home is getting cheaper, but people are still choosing to rent. Buying a home is affordable, despite it being the largest purchase of most people’s lives. Low mortgage rates are helping to make homeownership one of, if

The Great Divide in Homebuilding

Some measures of the U.S. home construction market suggest things have radically improved, but does the data support that? The Housing Market Index, the chief measure of homebuilder confidence for the single-family home construction marketplace, fell five points in

Houston Foreclosure Inventory Down Double-Digits

New data from CoreLogic drives home just how much progress our housing markets have made in clearing out their foreclosure inventory The last 12 months have been highly encouraging ones for Houston’s housing market, according to the latest Foreclosure Report

2015 Investor Prospects

Investor interest is a major contributing factor to the success of a real estate market. How is your city doing? Despite its slow start, 2014 has turned into a year of growth and relative prosperity, considering the turmoil that

6 Things to Know About the Fed Ending ‘Quantitative Easing’ and How it Pertains to Housing

The Fed announced earlier today that it was ending its third round of Quantitative Easing, but what does it have to do with housing? The Federal Reserve announced earlier today it is officially ending its third round of Quantitative

4 Graphs to Illustrate Student Debt’s Impact on Homeownership

Federal Reserve researchers attempt to explain the relationship, if any, between the growing burden of student debt and dwindling homeownership rates. Amongst a swirl of damaging factors, it’s difficult to pinpoint the primary drivers forcing down homeownership rates among

Pending Home Sales Rise, but What of the Future?

Pending home sales reached a milestone of sorts in September, but what does it mean for housing? Pending Home Sales increased in September by both monthly and yearly measures, with the yearly increase being the first in nearly a

Texas Home Prices Remain Positive in Latest Case-Shiller

It was another positive month for home prices in the latest Case-Shiller Home prices in the Lone Star State remain strong in August, according to the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which Standard & Poor’s released this morning. Though

A Simple Guide to Lending Standards – and How They Haven’t Improved

We hear about lending standards all the time, and new data from CoreLogic suggests that they’re still quite tight. Are lending standards too tight? That’s a question on the mind of many housing professionals and analysts, so we’ve decided

7 Interesting Details About New Construction Home Sales

While everyone else focuses on the headlines, here are seven below-the-hood details you should know about new home sales. Sales of newly built single-family homes in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 467,000, a 0.2 percent

Student Loan Debt Takes Its Toll on Housing

In the last decade, student loan debt has become a major hindrance to young college graduates entering the home buying market. The saddling of debt is a struggle millions of Americans can relate to. And though, traditionally, household debt

Existing-Home Sales Improvements Highlight New Construction Slump

NAR’s September existing-home sales reports marks a bounce back from August’s dip. In August, existing-home sales took a slight dip from their peak pace in July. However, after a month of decreased activity, sales again picked up, this time

How Homebuyers in Texas Find Their Homes

There are many ways that homebuyers can go about locating their new residence, but how what are the most common methods among Texas homebuyers? Last week, we reported that nationwide, the methods in which homebuyers find their dream residence

The Top 6 Reasons that Homes Do Not Close

What are the most common reasons for why homes do not close? From financing issues to disagreements over the final sale price, there are many possible reasons for why a house did not close, so we decided to take a closer

Living in (Single) America

Americans love being single, according to new Census Bureau data, and that trend will likely impact housing in noticeable ways. For the first time since the government began tracking such statistics in 1976, there are more single adults in

Your Mind on Multitasking

Today’s agent doesn’t look busy unless they’re multitasking. Unfortunately, that frantic lifestyle may be hurting their brains. A smartphone in one hand, tablet in the other, Bluetooth in the ear and a laptop in the car seat – the

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