Pending home sales bounced back strongly in May and surged to the highest reading for the month of May since 2005, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Wednesday.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, climbed 8% in May compared to April. Contract signings are up 13.1% compared to a year earlier.“May’s strong increase in transactions—following April’s decline, as w
Rising prices in new-home construction have mostly shut out buyers in the lower end of the market, shows a new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders. Buyers in the bottom one-fourth of the market have had to look exclusively at the stock of existing homes. However, fast-rising prices in the existing-home market may soon price out buyers as well.The median price of a newly built single-family home that was started in 2020 was $33
The pandemic fueled a remodeling boom as more homeowners sheltered in and looked to redo their home as a new hobby. But the costs of remodeling projects have soared over the past year.Some house projects have seen prices jump by more than 50% in 2020 compared to 2019. Also, the average spending on a remodel increased from about $9,000 in 2019 to more than $13,000 in 2020, according to a new report from Angi and HomeAdvisor.“It was a pretty sign
The median home prices of single-family homes and condos in the second quarter was less affordable than historical averages in 61% of U.S. counties, according to a second-quarter report from ATTOM Data Solutions. That is the highest level in two years as home price increases continue to race ahead of wages in the majority of the country.Homeownership costs have comprised about 25.2% of the average national wage of $63,986 in the second quarter, a
Remote work and mobility are expected to have the most significant impact on real estate over the next year, according to The Counselors of Real Estate’s list. The group identified current and emerging issues expected to have an influence over real estate in the 2021-2022 cycle. Remote work and mobility and its influence over commercial buildings globally was named as the top issue, followed by technology and ESG (Environment, Social, and Gover
Single-family rents have climbed at the fastest rate in nearly 15 years. Further, renters are making their preferences known: Rent growth for detached properties is more than three times the rent growth for attached properties, according to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index.As inventory remains limited, some Americans are turning to rentals to buy time, but they still desire a single-family home. “While rent growth dipped significantly las
Buying a vacation home is the in thing to do since the pandemic. The National Association of REALTORS® reported last week that vacation home sales have posted double-digit growth over the past year, climbing 57% annually in 2020.But vacation homes can be pricey. Realtor.com®’s research team analyzed 1,300 towns nationwide to pinpoint the best affordable beach towns, offering not only easy ocean access but plenty of activities too. Most o
gage payment has jumped to $1,184. A year ago, it averaged $1,020, marking a 16% increase year over year, NAR notes. Also, the annual mortgage payment as a percentage of income rose to 16% this April from 13.7% a year ago due to higher home prices and a decline in median family incomes.The West has the highest mortgage payments to income, according to NAR’s data. Home prices in the West recently climbed to a record high of $509,400.View the ful
Mortgage rates have remained at or below 3% for nine consecutive weeks. “Many home buyers can benefit from these low rates while home prices are reaching record highs,” Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of REALTORS®, says at the association’s Economists’ Outlook blog.Mortgage rates can make a big difference to what home buyers can afford. The following chart from NAR shows how much
Investors are growing concerned that it may be more difficult to make money in flipping homes amid a frenzy of home buying activity lately that has sent home prices climbing.Home flipping profit margins dropped in the first quarter. Only 2.7% of all single-family homes and condos in the first quarter were considered a house flip—transactions that occurred within 12 months of one another. That is down from 4.8% during the fourth quarter of
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