Zillow’s trademark “Zestimate” feature, which lets homeowners and prospective buyers see the estimated value of almost any residence, has been upgraded to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities that the company says will improve accuracy. According to a

Mortgage application activity remains strong The number of mortgage applications submitted during the week ending June 21 grew 1.3 percent compared to the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. Growth in refinance applications was somewhat stronger

Trump prioritizes affordable housing with executive order President Trump signed an executive order June 25 to propose “eliminating regulatory barriers to affordable housing.” Secretary Ben Carson of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will chair a new

The Counselors of Real Estate, an international organization for commercial real estate professionals, ranked what its membership body recently voted on as the current and emerging issues it expects to have the most significant impact on real estate.  Topping

Less than a week after the National Association of Realtors reported stronger than expected existing-home sales for the month of May, there’s more good news for the U.S. housing market. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index for May came in

The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University (JCHS) recently released its annual State of the Nation’s Housing report for 2019. For more than 30 years now, JCHS has put out a comprehensive report on trends in the

In March, the luxury home market saw the largest drop in sales since 2010 with an 8.3 percent year-over-year decrease in closings, according to data gathered by Realtor.com. There were just 8,343 sales in excess of $1 million across

Weekly loan applications decline marginally The number of applications filed for a new home loan fell from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, which was perhaps unsurprising considering the earlier report’s record-high levels. In the week

Existing-home sales finally grew in May after two months of downbeat reports, according to the latest monthly snapshot of U.S. housing activity from the National Association of Realtors. Closed sales of previously-owned homes increased by 2.5 percent over April’s

Investors claim growing share of US home sales Despite still-growing prices that have exceeded their pre-recession peaks in some markets, more single-family homes around the U.S. are being purchased by investors rather than owner-occupants. According to a report from

Optimism struck in the second quarter of 2019 with 73 percent of Americans saying they believe now is a good time to sell a home, an increase from 65 percent in the first quarter based on a consumer survey

The Federal Reserve announced June 19 that it would not make changes to targets for its key interest rate, the federal funds rate, which influences what banks charge for consumer loans including mortgages. However, in line with some projections,

Numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show that housing starts unexpectedly fell during the month of May, while building permits increased. Privately-owned housing starts dropped by 0.9 percent,

In every decision they make, parents tend to make their children their top priority. And according to new research from Zillow, the same goes for the considerations they make when shopping for a new home More than the life of

The trend toward lower mortgage rates doesn’t appear to be a short-lived phenomenon, and has already boosted loan application activity to historically high levels. As a result, lending industry executives are responding with their most optimistic outlook on the

HUD confirms ‘Dreamers’ are ineligible for FHA loans The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed for the first time that undocumented immigrants given temporary residence under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (known as Dreamers) are