Finance - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Home Sale Profit Margins Hit 10-Year High

Home sellers continue to get richer as prices rise. Profit margins on median-priced single-family home and condo sales climbed to 47.6%, which marks the highest level in a decade.The typical home sale nationwide during the third quarter generated a record-high profit of $100,178 as national median home prices continued to rise, ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm, reports. That is up from $88,800 in the second quarter of this year. Prof

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Some Rents Surge 40%

Many tenants are seeing steep increases in their rents, a reversal of the trend during the early phase of the pandemic as urbanites moved to suburbs and exurbs.As they return, they’re seeing that discounts on rents are not only quickly vanishing but surging, even for those who stayed, because of the high demand.“Renters who originally received pandemic pricing are now experiencing steep rent increases at renewal—sometimes upward of 40%,”

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Asian Americans Disproportionately Denied Mortgages

Asian American mortgage applicants are facing higher mortgage denial rates than White mortgage applicants, despite having higher credit scores and incomes, according to a new Urban Institute report.The denial rate for Asian American mortgage applicants is 8.7% compared to 6.7% of White mortgage applicants. The denial rates are higher for Asian American mortgage applicants across income levels, too.Asian American mortgage applicants tend to have h

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Commercial Real Estate Sales Surge to New Heights

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, life-science labs, and industrial

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The Average Costs of Homeownership Over the First Year

The first year of homeownership can be one of the most expensive years. After all, new homeowners are paying for the down payment, closing fees, and the costs of moving in, while outfitting their new home.SmartAsset evaluated data across the 20 largest cities to find which areas have the highest first-year housing costs. They factored in six metrics: median home value, down payment, average closing costs, monthly mortgage payment, property taxes,

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Many Consumers will take a Haunted House at a Discount

In this hot market, many Americans are willing to overlook a few ghosts for the right home and list price. Nearly a third—or 30%—say they’d be willing to live with a “friendly” ghost, according to realtor.com®’s annual Halloween survey. Twenty percent say they would live in a home where a murder has taken place. “In today’s ultra-competitive housing market, buyers are looking for a break,” says Clare Trapasso, realtor.com®’s

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Urban Rents Soar as Cities Recover from Pandemic Hit

Big cities are back. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many people fled busy city life for less crowded areas. But now they’re returning in a big way.Rents in the 10 largest U.S. tech cities—such as New York City and Austin, Texas—have surpassed their March 2020 levels by an average of 6.3%, according to realtor.com®’s monthly rental report. In most of the largest tech cities, the September rental growth rate is higher than prior to the

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10 Markets where Home Prices are Surging Most

Housing demand has been on fire amid the pandemic, and home prices have skyrocketed in response. Many markets have seen double-digit percentage price growth since the pandemic began.For example, in Rochester, N.Y., where home prices have been particularly volatile, the median sales price has surged by nearly 170% from September 2020 to September 2021.The National Association of REALTORS® reports that the median existing-home price for all housin

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Property Tax Boom Helps State, Local Coffers

The boom in home prices is helping state and local governments’ pocketbooks. Property tax collections reached their highest level since at least 2009, according to a new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders.Property owners paid $703.5 billion in the four quarters ending in the second quarter, up 13% for the year.Tax revenues for state and local governments can be volatile. However, “property tax collections have proven rela

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Single-Family Rents Grow at Fastest Pace in 16 Years

Single-family rents posted their fastest increase in more than 16 years Americans continue to desire larger living spaces amid the pandemic. Investors taking notice are flooding the market to capture more rentals.U.S. single-family rents were up 9.3% year over year in August, approaching double-digit gains, according to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index. The increase in August was more than quadruple the increase from August 2020. While that

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