Pending home sales weakened in January as insufficient supply levels of homes for sale continues to press on many markets, particularly in the Midwest and West, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Monday.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, dropped 2.8 percent to a reading of 106.4 in January. The latest reading on the index is about 0.4 percent above a year ago, but it’s the lowe
Homeownership continues to be an important part of many Americans’ retirement plan. So where is homeownership in retirement seeing some of the biggest growth?Six of the 10 cities where retiree homeownership is rising the fastest are located in warm weather climates, a new analysis by SmartAsset shows. Their research looked at cities with populations of greater than 50,000 and measured the percentage change between the 2006 retiree homeownership
REALTORS will play a key role in helping homeowners live more comfortably and be more financially secure in retirement, as three out of four adults say they plan to downsize their home to lower ongoing costs and cash in on the equity.According to the results of a new survey of 3,718 adults by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, in order to help fund retirement, 67 percent would be willing to move to a less expensive location, 47 percent would consider se
Strengthening demand from smaller markets will help the commercial sector see stable growth and offer “decent” returns for investors in 2017, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ quarterly commercial real estate forecast.NAR predicts that the national office vacancy rate will drop 1.1 percentage points to 12.1 percent this year. Job growth in the business and professional services sector is expected to increase the need for
The majority of contracts settle on time, but more than a quarter of practitioners are citing delays due to common culprits.In the latest REALTORS® Confidence Index report, 29 percent of real estate professionals say they faced a delay to settlement and 5 percent reported a contract that was terminated. Sixty-seven percent of practitioners reported their contracts were settled on time.Among the contracts that had a delay to settlement, 38 percen
Black homeownership has fallen to levels not seen since the 1960s, shows a new analysis by The Urban Institute. Many demographic groups faced a decline in homeownership during the housing crisis, but blacks appear to have been the hardest hit.In the three decades after the Fair Housing Act passed, black homeownership increased by nearly 6 percentage points, reaching 47.3 percent. However, from 2000 to 2015, the rate of black homeownership dropped
Mortgage rates continue to defy expectations, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate barely budging for the fourth consecutive week.Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Feb. 23: 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.16 percent, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 4.15 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.62 percent. 15-year fixed-rate mortga
Is now a good time for FHA to reduce hurdles to homeownership with a lower mortgage insurance premium? NAR says yes, but the Trump administration and some members of Congress aren’t so sure. On Inauguration Day, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended a planned reduction in the FHA premium saying in a letter to mortgage lenders that “more analysis and research are deemed necessary.”The quarter-point reduction had been
Many markets are seeing so few new listings that they may not be able to meet the strong buyer demand heading into real estate’s traditionally busiest season. Listings are down more than 7 percent compared to a year ago across the country, according to the latest data by the National Association of REALTORS®.“Competition is likely to heat up even more heading into the spring for house hunters looking for homes in the lower- and mid-market pr
The shopping mall is getting a big makeover across the country. Faced with a shrinking number of shoppers, mall landlords are looking to reinvent shopping centers, mixing in everything from apartments to concerts, to get more foot traffic.One giant in the mall space, Westfield Corp., has cut its portfolio of shopping centers in half from 66 to 33 since 2004. It’s now testing the waters in apartment buildings, organizing concerts and other event
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