Pending home sales rebounded in January as all four major regions of the U.S. saw an uptick in contract signings. The largest increase was in the South.The National Association of REALTORS®’ Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.6 percent to a reading of 103.2 in January. Nevertheless, contract signings are still down 2.3 percent year over year. This is the thirteenth consecutive month for ann
Foreclosures are not nearly as prevalent as they were during the housing crisis in 2008. But they are still occurring.In fact, some states are seeing an uptick in foreclosure starts compared to last year, notably Montana (up 48 percent), Minnesota (up 29 percent), Nebraska (up 28 percent), Texas (up 15 percent), and Florida (up 13 percent), according to a year-end foreclosure report released recently by ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data fi
In the last few years, student loan debt and rising housing costs have been cited as the chief reasons why many young adults are moving back in with their parents. But a new Homes.com study suggests the real trigger may be a broken heart.Since the Great Recession, which thwarted many millennials’ plans to move out on their own, an improving labor market has not done much to lure these young adults out of their parents’ houses. Why are they st
Countries around the world are cracking down on money laundering schemes in the luxury real estate sphere. “Real estate has always been a favorite asset for criminals, through which they would launder their money,” Brigitte Unger, a professor at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and an expert in global money laundering issues, told Mansion Global.Real estate money laundering schemes are estimated to reach $1.6 trillion a year
Chase Home Lending is promising to get customers to the closing table for a home purchase within 21 days or give the borrower $1,000 in cash.The average time to close on a home loan is 45 days, according to January data from Ellie Mae. But Chase believes it can make it to closing in less than half of that time through its new “Closing Guarantee" program.Chase officials say the program could give customers a competitive advantage when
Mortgage rates inched lower for the third consecutive week. Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater says the lower rates bode well for the spring home buying season, typically the busiest time of the year for home shopping.“Mortgage rates … [are] continuing the general downward trend that began late last year,” Khater says. “Wages are growing on par with home prices for the first time in years, and with more inventory available,
Young adults are now taking on more mortgages than any other generation and increasing their purchase power in the housing market. Millennials represent 42 percent of all new-home loans, higher than both the baby boomers and Generation X, according to a new study from realtor.com®.“Millennials are getting older, with better jobs and deeper pockets, allowing them to expand their collective purchase power and hence, their footprint in the market
The winter months have proven to be a sluggish time for home sales. January was the third consecutive month in which existing-home sales posted a drop, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Thursday. All regions of the U.S. saw a drop in sales except for the Northeast.Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions on single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops, dropped 1.2 percent in January compared to December
Housing affordability concerns will likely limit single-family-home building from making any significant gains in 2019, said economists at a Tuesday session during the 2019 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.“This is a crisis,” Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, told attendees about the rising costs of homeownership that are pricing many buyers out. Home price appreciation has outpaced wage ga
Many homeowners show a reluctance toward refinancing, believing that some offers from banks may be “too good to be true.” But their suspicions may be costing them thousands of dollars in savings, according to a new study in the February Issue of The Review of Financial Studies from Columbia Business School researchers.Fifty-one percent of 550,000 borrowers who were sent preapproval applications through the Home Affordable Refinance
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