News / Features
After increasing almost 8 percent in August, existing-home sales fell back to earth in September, decreasing 3 percent from August but retaining strong year-over-year gains, according to new data released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) today. Total sales
Who knew something so popular could receive such scorn? Since mid-September, when the mortgage interest tax deduction (MID) was floated as a possible casualty of the Congressional “Super Committee” charged with lowering the federal deficit, the famous deduction has
Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft released the October 2011 Economic Outlookyesterday, reporting a decrease in homeownership but increase in rental demand. On one hand, Nothaft reported an increase of 1.4 million households that have moved to rental properties
The Federal Reserve approveda new policy on Monday that aims to clarify how larger financial institutions would handle another systemic shock to the banking sector, though some critics still say the new policy falls short. The plan, which was
The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced new data for construction earlier today, the most notable being that housing starts rose 15 percent from August to September. In total, privately-owned housing starts were
The past few months, media outlets have been awash with proposed remedies for falling home prices, but the latest solution comes from an unlikely source: short sales, home sales of distressed homes before they are repossessed and sold by
The cooling temperatures had not the slightest effect on home sales in Houston, as sales increased for the fourth straight month and the fifth overall month in 2011. Year-over-year, sales were up 16.9 percent, and prices rose 0.4 percent
Keeping with the trend of transforming downtown commercial spaces into housing units, City View Lofts has turned a 100-year-old Nabisco cookie factory on N. Chenevert into 57 loft
In an effort to better represent the financial stability of potential homebuyers, Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) has announced a collaborative venture with CoreLogic to broaden the base of factors it utilizes when rating clients of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose to 18, an increase of four points from September to October, the highest monthly gain in 19 months. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB),
Budget reductions are a hot topic in Washington right now, and if two bills from the House and Senate are any indication, funds for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could be in danger. HUD funds are
Housing inventories, according to data from the National Association of Realtors’ Realtor.com, are down 20 percent from last year to 2.19 million. That’s the lowest level since the site began tracking inventories in 2007, and it poses a unique challenge
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) will release its existing home sales data on Thursday, and housing guru Tom Lawler is predicting a continuation of the sideways growth that has defined home sales for the last four months. Posted
If only all potential homebuyers operated like the baby boomer generation – then business really would be booming! According to a national survey conducted by Coldwell Banker of more than 1300 of the firm’s agents, 87 percent of the
Guaranteed Rate, Inc., one of the largest and fastest growing independent mortgage lenders in the country, has just announced it is opening a new branch in Dallas-Fort Worth. Nick Marascia, who will be the branch’s manager, said Guaranteed Rate is
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