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Mortgage Rates Just Topped 7%, Triggering a ‘Sense of Helplessness’ for Many Would-Be Homebuyers
Getty Images It’s official: Mortgage rates are back up above 7%. Even worse, rates could rise further after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers were in no rush to cut rates while inflation remains stronger than anticipated. Mortgage rates...
The Typical U.S. Luxury Home Costs More Than Ever Before
Luxury home prices in the first quarter rose 9% year over year, twice as fast as non-luxury prices. Sales of luxury homes rose 2%, compared to a 4% decline in sales for non-luxury homes. Luxury sales are outperforming partly because elevated mortgage rates aren’t a...
Sales of Existing Homes Slump as Prices and Mortgage Rates Rise
Getty/Bloomberg Home sales slipped in March as mortgage rates rose. Total existing-home sales dropped 4.3% from February, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million in March, the National Association of Realtors® reported on Thursday. The March sales figure...
Homebuyers Get Hit With Brutal News: Mortgage Rates Soar Past 7%
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Mortgage rates did not simply rise this week—they soared past 7% for the first time since December 2023, putting a massive hurdle in front of homebuyers hoping to find an affordable home this spring. The average rate for...
Major homebuilder objects to proposed NAR settlement
Atlanta-based PulteGroup Inc., one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., has filed an objection in the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit following settlements with Anywhere, RE/MAX and Keller Williams. PulteGroup says that the company does not have enough...
Why are exiting home prices rising when sales are still so low?
Existing home sales fell in today’s report, which isn’t surprising, but one headline that shocked some people was that home prices are still up year over year, even with higher inventory and higher mortgage rates. From NAR: The median existing home price for all...
Commercial Real Estate
Prime Multifamily Metrics Tick Upward for First Time in Two Years
Multifamily metrics including going-in cap rates, exit cap rates and unlevered IRR targets for prime assets showed slight improvement in the first quarter, the first such uptick since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in early 2022, CBRE reported. The...
Baby Boomers and Their Commercial Real Estate Impact
When baby boomers came of age, they brought multiple changes to the workforce, entertainment and society. According to a recent video from Marcus & Millichap, this age cohort, born between 1946 and 1964, exerts as much influence as it ages and retires. Marcus...
AI is Here to Stay. It’s Important to Understand the Risks
Artificial intelligence is a tool that streamlines CRE operations, finds and analyzes data, and drives data center development, among other things. Because of AI’s multiple advantages, companies’ largest worry is being left behind. But not so fast. A recent report...
Gen Z Will Spend $145,000 on Rent by Age 30
Alexandra Both The upper edge of the Gen Z age cohort (those born between 1997 and 2012) has entered adulthood and the job market. A report by RentCafe about these older Gen Z adults explained a couple of things: Gen Z will spend $145,000 on rent by their 30th...
Manufactured Housing: A Mixed Bag
Marcus & Millichap’s 1H 2024 “Manufactured Home Communities National Report” offered a mixed bag of good and not-so-good news. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is funneling more money into manufactured housing through its...
Malls: Are They Coming Back?
Malls seem to be the poster child for failed retail space. The first mall in the United States opened in the mid-1950s, and the latter part of the 20th century saw a sharp increase in mall development. But mall oversaturation, combined with the rise of e-commerce and...
Finance
Mortgage Rates Move Lower After 2-Day Rout, But Underwhelmingly So
Wednesday was one of the worst days in decades in terms of single-day upward movement in mortgage rates. Thursday added a bit more insult to the injury. The resulting levels were the highest since November 2023. We should be thankful, then, that Friday managed to...
Time to Hurry Up and Wait Again
Time to Hurry Up and Wait Again Friday ended up being reasonably pleasant, but mostly uneventful. Gains were in place from the overnight session on a combination of European economic data and central banker comments. Geopolitical headlines may have played a role at...
Mortgage Rates Are Actually The Highest Since Mid November
Wednesday's Consumer Price Index caused a brutally fast spike in mortgage rates. It wasn't notable for taking us to exceptionally high levels (October 2023 was much higher), but it was one of the biggest single-day jumps. Either way, it easily took the average...
Basically The Worst Day For Mortgage Rates Since October 2022
Mortgage rates surged at a pace seen only one other time since October 2022. The average lender moved up by 0.28%, which is functionally equivalent to the 0.29% seen after the February 2nd jobs report. In fact, today was arguably worse because the Feb 2nd example...
A Really Bad Day For The Bond Market
A Really Bad Day For The Bond Market To reiterate the point made in today's morning commentary, there was a mismatch between the size of the beat in the core inflation data (0.4 vs 0.3) and the size of the move in the bond market. This wasn't a glaringly huge problem...
Borrowers Pick Up Pace of Refinancing
The interest rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) again topped 7 percent last week, but mortgage application activity still squeezed out a tiny gain. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of application...
Market Data
May 2024 Market Update for Sumter County Georgia Released
MyMarketPulse (mymarketpulse.com) has unveiled its analysis for May 2024, focusing on the property market trends in Sumter County, Georgia. The report shows that the Median Sale Price in Sumter County reached $298,750 as of May 2024, marking a decrease of 18.3% over...
May 2024 Market Update for Adams County Idaho Released
MyMarketPulse (mymarketpulse.com) just released its analysis of the May 2024 market data for Adams County, Idaho. The Median Sale Price for properties in Adams County was documented at $600,000 for May 2024. This price point is a downward move of 17.8% from the...
May 2024 Market Update for Oneida County Idaho Released
MyMarketPulse (mymarketpulse.com) has unveiled its analysis for May 2024, focusing on the property market trends in Oneida County, Idaho. The Median Sale Price for properties in Oneida County was documented at $179,500 for May 2024. This price point is a downward move...
May 2024 Market Update for Fayette County Illinois Released
MyMarketPulse (mymarketpulse.com) just released its analysis of the May 2024 market data for Fayette County, Illinois. As of 5/2024, Fayette County had a Median Sale Price of $92,000, which was down 27.0% from the previous month and down 1.3% from the prior year. 11...
May 2024 Market Update for Madison County Illinois Released
MyMarketPulse (mymarketpulse.com) just released its analysis of the May 2024 market data for Madison County, Illinois. The report shows that the Median Sale Price in Madison County reached $205,450 as of May 2024, marking an increase of 17.4% over the previous month...
May 2024 Market Update for Vermilion County Illinois Released
In its May 2024 market overview, MyMarketPulse (mymarketpulse.com) highlights the real estate dynamics within Vermilion County, Illinois. May 2024's data reveals a Median Sale Price of $112,500 for homes in Vermilion County. This figure represents a growth of 8.7%...
Real Estate Basics
How to Change Your Name on a Deed
Changing your name often reflects a big change in your life. Whether you’re celebrating a marriage, finalizing a divorce, dealing with the estate of a loved one, or embracing a fresh start, knowing how to change your name on a deed can help you move forward. Perhaps...
What Is a PUD Home (Planned Unit Development)?
Many homebuyers today are not just shopping for a house; they’re shopping for a community that reflects their desired lifestyle. A PUD home, meaning a planned unit development property, offers shared amenities, such as a neighborhood clubhouse, swimming pool, parks,...
How Much Are Realtor Fees and Who Pays, Buyer or Seller?
Who pays Realtor fees on a home sale, the buyer or seller? Currently, in almost all cases, the seller pays the entire commission fee for the listing agent and the buyer’s agent. However, on March 15, 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced a...
Lifestyle & Decor
The Fish Trend Continues: 15 (More) Favorite Catches
Last fall we started noticing something strange: fish motifs appearing all over interiors, on ceramics and lamps and table linens, and in our favorite shops—subtly at first, and then everywhere we looked. Eventually fish became so inescapable we dubbed it an official...
Steal This Look: A Moody Mid-Century/Japanese Mashup
A while back, Alexa wrote about a project by one of our favorite designers, New Zealander Katie Lockhart. What we especially admire about Katie is her deft touch when it comes to mixing different styles and periods so that the overall look isn’t too fussy or...
Beyond the Basics – A Kitchen Simply Transforms
A Focus on Function helps Strengthen this Bronx IKEA Kitchen Renovation Homeowners: Elisabeth and Jay posted their townhouse kitchen renovation on SweetenWhere: Norwood, Bronx, New YorkScope: IKEA cabinetry adds storage to this kitchen to create a more contemporary...
Quick Takes With: Cassandra Ellis
“Your home should be your storyteller—the weaver of the red thread and a marker of you and yours.” “The rolling hills are almost human in their falls and curves.“ “It’s not the fanciest house, but if it makes people feel, then I’ve done what I think is right.” You’d...
Moving & Packing Tips
If there’s one thing I am experienced at over the past five years, it’s moving! For better or for worse, we have just completed our third move within five years (with two kids and pets!). In this post, I will teach you everything I have learned about how to pack, how...
Best Indoor Plants
Have you ever killed a houseplant and had no idea why? Do you wish you had a green thumb? In this post, we’ll share the best low maintenance indoor plants for your home. We’ll help you choose houseplants for low light, indirect light and bright light rooms in your...