The national rental vacancy rate dropped to 5.6% in the second quarter of the year while the homeowner vacancy rate remained at 0.8%.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.99% as of Aug. 4: down 0.8% from last week. The news marks the first time since April that mortgage rates have dipped below 5%.

Are your neighbors the worst? Whatever it is that grinds your gears, you can bet it comes in on this list of the top neighbor frustrations.

The platform, which recently announced its entry into markets across the country, is led in part by Josh Altman of Million Dollar Listing.

Texas single-family home sales declined 5.6% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same time in 2021, according to Texas REALTORS®.

Home prices were up 17.6% in Houston on a year-over-year basis, compared to 18.3% nationwide, CoreLogic reported, citing its Home Price Index. 

Andrea Fowler has been promoted to vice president at Trustmark, the firm she joined earlier this year as a community lending specialist.

Following two months of positive gains, new Houston listings edged slightly downward in July, while active listings surged nearly 40%.

Houston is home to two of the Lone Star State’s 10 most-expensive single-family listings in July.

New listings struggled to maintain momentum last week as the volume of newly listed homes fell across Greater Houston.

“Contract signings to buy a home will keep tumbling down as long as mortgage rates keep climbing, as has happened this year to date.” — National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun  

Matching June’s historic move, the Federal Reserve announced that interest rates are rising .75%. The target range for the federal funds rate now sits between 2.25% and 2.5%.

“Housing data for May 2022 continued strong, as price gains decelerated slightly from very high levels,” Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, said.

At the same time, the inventory of new homes for sale rose 10.7%, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

While Greater Houston’s luxury market saw its first decline in two years in June, there is no shortage of $1 million-plus homes in the metro. According to LendingTree, 2.4% of Houston homes are worth $1 million or more.

Texas-based builder Wan Bridge recently announced plans for its newest community, Enclave at Mason Creek, a gated build-to-rent community in Katy.