Real estate’s typical seasonal slowdown isn’t happening this year. Sales remain high and lookie-loos are still out in force. ShowingTime, a residential real estate showing managing and market stats tech provider, reports “surprising” home buyer activity particularly in the Midwest and South regions during October. They note an unusual jump in home showing traffic. “Showing activity typically...
Contract signings climbed 7.5% in October, and home sales for 2021 are on pace to hit a 15-year high, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Monday. Pending home sales rebounded after a decline in September. Despite rising mortgage rates, home buyers appear undeterred by higher financing costs and home prices. Contract activity increased month over month in all four major regions of the U.S....
The pandemic has prompted more Americans to want to supersize their homes. The median single-family square floor area as increased to 2,337 square feet as of the third quarter, while the average (mean) square footage of new single-family homes rose to 2,541, according to the latest Census Bureau data, as reported by the National Association of Home Builders. The average size of new single-family...
A real estate firm is suing Oregon lawmakers over a new state law that bans real estate professionals from delivering “love letters” written from home buyers to sellers when submitting an offer on a house. The lawsuit alleges that the state ban violates the First Amendment rights of real estate brokers and their clients. The lawsuit was filed in federal court last Friday by the Pacific Legal...
It’s a good time to own a single-family rental: Rent prices hit double-digit growth in September, according to CoreLogic’s latest Single-Family Rent Index. Rent growth across all tiers continues to be at record highs. High-end rentals are seeing the most growth. Overall, national rents rose 10.2% year over year, increasing from a 2.6% annual rise a year earlier in September 2020, CoreLogic reports....
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was back above 3% this week, and economists believe rates will continue to increase over the next few months. “The combination of rising inflation and consumer spending is driving mortgage rates higher,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Shoppers looking to buy a home are fueling a strong demand while ongoing inventory shortages are not improving in...
Home buyers don’t have much time to decide whether they want a house or not. As soon as a listing hits the market, the rush is on. Home sales between July 2020 and June 2021 were on the market for a median of just one week before going under contract, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released 2021 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. That marks a record low in NAR data dating...
Home prices continue to rise rapidly as homeowners see double-digit gains over the past year. The median sales price of single-family existing homes rose 16% in the third quarter, an increase of $50,300, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of REALTORS®. Three metros saw price gains of more than 30% compared to a year ago. The median sales price of a...
Real estate investors are buying up homes, and first-time buyers increasingly are finding themselves up against them in bidding wars. Investors are drawn to real estate to flip single-family homes, townhomes, and condos for a profit and to build their portfolio of properties to convert them to rental units. The share of investors is at the highest level since 2015, according to realtor.com®’s data....
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit many sectors of commercial real estate hard. But the sector is bouncing back. Investors purchased a record amount of commercial real estate in the third quarter, The Wall Street Journal reports. But office buildings and shopping malls aren’t behind the boom, as they typically are. Instead, some of the biggest drivers in the commercial sector have been apartment buildings,...