By Peter Ricci The National Association of Realtors (NAR) did some serious political flexing this week with the GOP and its stance on the mortgage interest tax deduction. The Republican Party boldly excluded the deduction – long the third

By Carlo Calma, Peter Ricci On account of rising mortgage interest rates, mortgage applications fell 7.4 percent for the week ending August 17, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Application Survey from the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA). And indeed, rates

By Peter Ricci New residential home sales increased 25.3 percent year-over-year in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000, according to the latest joint report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban

By Stephanie Sims Home sales in Houston continue to rise while existing housing inventory has fallen to its lowest level since February 2007 – 5.3 months supply. Across the area, according to the Houston Chronicle, agents sold 6,324 single-family

By Carlo Calma The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) has announced the results of their annual board of directors election, according to its website. The 2013 batch of executive committee members and officers will be installed at a ceremony

By Peter Ricci Existing-home sales reversed recent declines in July, rising 2.3 percent from June and 10.4 percent from July  2011, according to the National Association of Realtors. Median existing-home price was equally optimistic for the month, increasing yearly

By Peter Ricci Houston’s single-family home sales roared on ahead in July, increasing 27 percent from last year according to the latest data from the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR). In addition, both average and median prices were up

By Peter Ricci Foreclosure sales present significant benefits to potential homeowners, the biggest one being the price – according to the most recent existing-home sales report from the National Association of Realtors, foreclosures sold for an average discount of

More than seven months after its initial unveiling, Barack Obama’s refinancing plan will make a return to Capital Hill on September, as the president renews calls for Washington to assist the nation’s underwater homeowners. The announcement is hardly a

By Stephanie Sims Historically, many of the world’s tallest buildings, like the Empire State Building and the Willis Tower, were built to house offices, but once the idea of living in a massively-tall building grew in popularity about a

We’ve been exploring the rapidly falling housing inventory for some time now, and though analysts have offered explanations for the decline, we had not yet seen a consumer-driven survey on the issue – until now with Redfin’s Real-Time Home Seller Survey. A

Capitalizing on the success of their smartphone app, Sotheby’s International Realty has recently released a version of their popular luxury property listing site for iPad users. With an extensive search engine detailing all of Sotheby’s local and international listings,

The National Association of Home Builders latest Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose for the fourth consecutive month in August, reaching its highest point in more than five years. A measure of builder confidence for the newly-built, single-family

Housing affordability was one of the hidden jewels of the post-boom housing market, as falling home prices offered prospective buyers one of the best opportunities in decades to enjoy the benefits of homeownership. As the latest quarterly report from

Housing starts in July were up 21.5 percent from last year, according to the latest joint report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Additionally, building permits, which are the clearest signal for

By Stephanie Sims They say real estate is a great investment, but we’re not sure they meant entire towns of real estate. According to the Huffington Post, quite a few people have named the right price and bought themselves