Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro sees big opportunity in the housing market this year, with the easing of credit opening the door to more buyers.
“I see 2015 as the year of housing opportunity, particularly home ownership,” Castro told CNN’s Christine Romans. “A good example of that is the reduction in the FHA mortgage premium.”
Two recently released reports reveal that the American public is starting to feel much better about the U.S. economy.
As all consumers are feeling more optimistic, more young adults are moving out of their parents’ basements and into a residence of their own. The recent Census report shows that new household formations skyrocketed in 2014.
Millions of Americans who lost their homes during the foreclosure crisis are now poised to become homeowners again.
That’s according to a new report from RealtyTrac, which estimates that 7.3 million so-called “boomerang buyers” will return to the U.S. housing market over the next eight years.
Pending home sales dropped in December, despite interest rates being at the lowest levels in more than a year, the National Association of REALTOR® reports. All regions across the country posted declines in December.
In December, pending home sales nationally fell 3.7 percent month-over-month. Still, NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, remained about 6 percent above year-over-year levels for the fourth consecutive month.
Millennials deep down may be suburbanites after all. In recent years, economists and demographers have argued that members of Generation Y will have a longer love for city living in smaller living quarter than their predecessors. But a newly released survey by the National Association of Home Builders discounts that, suggesting that what millennials really want is a single-family home outside of the urban center – just like other generations.
Could you imagine living in 97 square feet? Tiny houses – some might even call them teeny-tiny – are growing in popularity among buyers in the second home market. Some are even making them their primary residence.
Borrowing costs got even cheaper for home buyers and refinancers last week, as mortgage rates continued to descend.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.66 percent last week, the lowest weekly average since May 23, 2013, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. What’s more, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped below 3 percent, also for the first time since May 2013.
Despite recent increases, new-home inventories remain near all-time lows and are unlikely to return to their highs any time soon, according to a new analysis by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
The rise in single-family inventory levels over the last few months bring them back only to 2012 levels. What’s more, the supply of condos continues to be at record lows, with fewer new high-rise developments and condo conversions occurring now than in the mid-2000s, John Burns Consulting says.
The gain in single-family home prices varied dramatically by area in the Puget Sound region, ranging from negative 3 percent to 15 percent compared to a year earlier. Read the article and click on an area in the map for details on sales activity by area.
In a move designed to bring more first-time homebuyers into the housing market, President Barack Obama said last week the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the government insurer of home loans, will lower its annual insurance premiums from 1.35 percent to 0.85 percent.
In a statement, the White House said the move was part of the president’s efforts “to expand responsible lending to creditworthy borrowers.” The president is scheduled to talk about improvements in the housing market at a speech on Thursday in Phoenix, one of the hardest-hit markets of the housing crash.
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