Multifamily units are driving the gains in overall housing starts last month as more apartment projects were initiated. But single-family housing starts fell 2.8% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.076 million units, their second consecutive month of decline, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. While single-family starts dropped in the West and Midwest, they still rose in the Northeast and South.“There is certainly a hous
A new analysis from Freddie Mac alleges appraisal values are more likely to fall below the contracted sales price in Black and Latino neighborhoods than in predominantly White areas. The research is based on an evaluation of 12 million appraisals for purchase transactions on single-family homes that were submitted to Freddie Mac from 2015 to 2020.Nearly 13% of properties in Black census tracts received appraisal values lower than the contract pri
When you hear “prefab,” you may think double-wide mobile home. It’s a misconception the industry has long been trying to clear up.Prefab, a type of construction method, can be found at the luxury home level. More prefab options are stretching into the high-end market, combining quicker construction timelines with ultra-luxury touches.Prefab homes are built offsite in a factory, delivered to a home site, and assembled faster than a trad
Even though builders have been saddled with higher material costs and labor and lot woes, home building has been on the rise over the past year. Single-family permits, a gauge measuring future construction, have jumped about 30% from July 2020 to July of this year. The permits have increased in all four major regions of the U.S., led by the Northeast and the South, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ analysis posted on its E
Scientists at Purdue University have created the whitest paint in the world, and their research, published in April, shows that the ultra-white color could drastically reduce or even eventually eliminate the need for air conditioning.The stark white paint works by reflecting 98.1% of sunlight away from the building. It also emits infrared heat, which means it absorbs less heat from the sun than it emits. “A surface coated with this paint is coo
Mortgage rates followed the trend of the 10-year Treasury yield this week and inched lower. But these historically low rates—averaging 2.86% this week for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage—are expected to rise over the course of the next few months.The National Association of REALTORS® predicts that mortgage rates will rise to 3.5% by mid-2022 as the Fed will likely start reducing its bond purchases before the end of the year. Expect interest
More real estate listings are coming to the market, but that won’t be able to make up for the fact that America is short millions of homes based on population needs. That likely means home buyers will continue to face inventory shortages and a dearth of homes for sale in the future.The U.S. is short 5.24 million homes. That is an increase of 1.4 million homes from 2019, according to research from realtor.com®.“The pandemic has certainly
Rents are rapidly rising across the country. The U.S. median rental price jumped 11.5% year over year in August to $1,607 per month. That is the first time in two years that the rental market has reached double-digit growth, according to realtor.com®’s Monthly Rental Report.More than half of the 50 largest metros posted double-digit annual gains. The highest increases were in Tampa, Fla. (up 30.6% compared to a year ago), Riverside, Calif. (up
Just when the housing market was starting to fall into a seasonal pattern, mortgage demand takes off. Mortgage applications to purchase a home—a gauge of the housing market—rose 7% last week compared to the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. That marks the highest level since April of this year.Housing inventories have increased slightly, which may be opening up more possibilities to home buyers who had felt s
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