National News

Coldwell Banker receives 2021 St. Jude New Partner Campaign of the Year Award

Coldwell Banker’s new group originally aimed to raise $250,000, which it did within the first six months of the year, and by October, it had more than doubled its initial goal.

DepositLink unveils platform to eliminate paper-check payments to broker and title companies

The new program, DepositLink Pay, allows a broker, agent or title company to direct buyers and renters to a customized URL or a “Pay” button online to make digital earnest-money deposits and rental payments with no cost to brokers, agents or companies. 

MooveGuru opens proptech franchise YourHomeHub

The user of the app can monitor information about their home and local market conditions, store important documents, generate estimates for home repairs and find a local contractor for more than 1,000 different home-service categories. 

Mortgage rates spike at the end of September

Mortgage rates rose quickly last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 3.01%, up 0.13% from the week prior.

Housing inventory supply shortage beginning to ease

Expect a stable housing market over the next five years — despite the expiration of COVID-era protections — says a new Zillow report.

NAR: Pending home sales rebound in August

All four geographic regions saw increases, led by the Midwest, which clocked a 10.4% rise from July, and the South, where sales rose 8.6%. Pending transactions rose 7.2% in the West and 4.6% in the North.

S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller: Home-price gains set fourth record in a row

The 10-city composite index rose 1.4% on a monthly basis and 19.1% on a yearly basis, while the 20-city composite gained 1.5% monthly and 19.9% annually. 

Democratic senators propose 20-year mortgage for low-income, first-time homebuyers

The Low-Income First Time Homebuyers Act (LIFT) establishes a program to sponsor 20-year mortgages that would build equity at twice the rate of a conventional 30-year mortgage.

New-home sales rise in August

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 378,000, representing a supply of 6.1 months at the current sales rate.

Surge in multifamily construction drives housing starts in August

The increase was driven by a 21.6% month-over-month spike in the rate of new multifamily construction. Single-family housing starts, meanwhile, slid 2.8%.

NAHB: Builder confidence posts first monthly gain in four months

September’s reading of 76 was up one point from August, despite lingering challenges with labor and the building-material supply chain, the National Association of Home Builders reported, citing the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

RE/MAX: Home sales, prices decline in August

Month over month, home sales were down 3.5%, and the median sale price declined 1.2% to $335,000.

NAR sues DOJ after the department withdraws from antitrust settlement

The Justice Department’s original complaint against the National Association of Realtors, filed Nov. 19, 2020, alleges that the association enforced rules and policies that illegally hampered competition in residential real estate services.

Pending home sales up 6% from 2020 despite dwindling listings

A decline in new home listings has had little impact on the market as far as demand is concerned, according to a recent Redfin report.

Why the future of exurbs remains uncertain

Over the past year, outer suburbs, or exurbs, have experienced a particularly intense boom. It’s those distant areas which saw the sharpest increase in interested buyers, according to Realtor.com.

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