National News

How was October 2021 for Realtors?

The new REALTORS® Confidence Index survey is here, and thousands of Realtors have weighed in to reveal the current shape of the housing market.

NAR: Existing-home sales rise again in October

The U.S. housing market kept firing on all cylinders, as the demand for residential real estate drove prices higher for the 116th month in a row, marking the longest streak on record.

Could the Boston housing market normalize in 2022?

It’s been a crazy year for real estate with bidding wars, record home prices and historically low inventory, but that may all come to an end in 2022.

RE/MAX: Signs of Houston’s tight housing market persist in October

Among the 51 metro areas surveyed in October, closed transactions were down 6.4% from September, nearly twice the average pre-pandemic decline of 3.3% between 2015 and 2019, RE/MAX said, citing its National Housing Report.

NAHB: Builder confidence continues to rise in November despite supply issues

November’s reading of 83 was up three points from October, driven by low existing inventories and strong buyer demand, the National Association of Home Builders reported, citing the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

Supply chain woes hamper housing starts in October

Housing observers noted that demand for housing remains robust despite the lack of new supply.

NAR announces new MLS guidelines for increased transparency

The National Association of Realtors® announced new, pro-consumer changes to its guidance for local Multiple Listing Service broker marketplaces.

The pace of home prices continued to rise in the third quarter, but at a slower clip

Seventy-eight percent of the 183 U.S. markets monitored by the National Association of Realtors had double-digit increases in their median home prices, a decline from the second quarter, when 94% of markets saw double-digit increases.

Affordable home supply jumps as mortgage forbearance programs end

The supply of affordable homes on the market rose a record 13% in the third quarter as mortgage forbearance programs ended, prompting low-cost homeowners to put their properties on the market.

Atlanta, Houston real estate professionals elected to LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance executive roles

Atlanta’s Rodney Mason, who serves as vice president of mortgage lending with Guaranteed Rate, was named treasurer of the nonprofit, while Anita Blue, who works as an agent and credit restoration consultant at Cap Tex Realty, was named national vice president.

Mortgage applications decline despite drop in interest rates

“Mortgage rates decreased for the first time since August, as concerns about supply-chain bottlenecks, waning consumer confidence, weaker economic growth and rising inflation pushed Treasury yields lower.” — MBA associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan

Rocket Mortgage, Salesforce team up for loan originations

“This will be the first time a home lender will provide an end-to-end ‘mortgage-as-a-service’ solution through Salesforce Financial Services Cloud — a platform that thousands of financial institutions already heavily rely on.” — Rocket Cos. Vice Chairman and CEO Jay Farner

Zillow closes Zillow Offers, announces layoffs

Zillow announced today it’s ending its iBuyer service, Zillow Offers, and cutting roughly a quarter of its workforce, citing the volatility the service created for the online brokerage as the motivation for the move.

Millennials are fueling the housing boom — will it continue?

Millennials are purchasing houses — finally. Over the past year, millennials made up the largest share of homebuyers: 37% according to Barron’s.

NAR: Pending-home sales slide 2.3% in September

“Contract transactions slowed a bit in September and are showing signs of a calmer home price trend, as the market is running comfortably ahead of pre-pandemic activity.” — NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun

S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller: Home prices rise again

Home-price gains were once again broadly distributed, as all 20 cities in the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose, although in most cases at a slower rate than a month ago.

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