Starting in 2020, all new homes constructed in California will be required to have between 2 kilowatts and 3 kilowatts of electricity sourced directly from solar panels. State legislators, who have been considering such a measure for some time, officially voted recently to amend state building codes. Other states are watching how the change plays out and may want to follow suit, California officials have said. “These provisions really are histo
Nine out of 10 millennial renters say they want to purchase a home, but few are planning to do so in the near term, according to a new survey by rental website Apartment List. The chief reasons keeping them from homeownership are affordability (72 percent) and lack of savings for a down payment (62 percent), the survey of 6,400 young adult renters shows. Nearly 50 percent of respondents say they have zero savings, while only 11 percent have saved
Home buyers may be finding a window of opportunity to lock in lower rates. Mortgage rates fell this week, after several weeks of moderating, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates declined this week amid a steep sell-off in U.S. stocks,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “This week’s rate reaction to the volatile stock market is a welcome relief to prospective home buyers who have recently experienced rising rates and rising
End-of-year negotiations among federal lawmakers have resulted in another short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program.Homeowners and buyers in areas at risk of flooding can get insurance through Dec. 21, when the program is scheduled to expire.Efforts are underway to secure longer-term authorization, possibly until the end of September, as part of a temporary budget measure known as a continuing resolution. The National Associa
More investors are starting to back away from flipping homes as home price gains slow. The average home flipping returns dropped to a 6.5-year low in the third quarter, and the share of flips was down 12 percent, according to a newly released report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data provider.A total of 45,901 single-family homes and condos were flipped in the third quarter, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2015. Homes flipp
Homeowners are still finding plenty of equity in their homes, but the gains are slowing. Homeowners with a mortgage saw their equity rise by 9.4 percent over the past year, according to CoreLogic’s latest Home Equity Report. The average homeowner gained $12,400 in home equity between the third quarter of 2017 and the third quarter of 2018. That is lower than the more than $16,000 year-over-year gain in equity reported in the second quarter, Cor
House hunters like to search for homes online during their workday, a new survey shows. The peak times for consumers to search for home listings are between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekdays. The most popular time is Friday at 10 a.m., according to a new analysis from real estate brokerage Redfin.“Searching for a new home is like a job. Maybe that’s why people most often do it while they work,” Redfin notes in its analysis.Nearly 64 percent
Americans who are moving out of state tend to be heading south, according to a new analysis by LendingTree, a loan information source. Researchers analyzed more than 2 million new purchase mortgage loans to see where people are moving to and from.Florida is the winning destination, according to the analysis. It was the top destination for movers who were relocating out of state in 15 out of the 50 states. Consumers like to move to Texas, but so
From interest rate hikes to climate change, shifts in the physical, political, and economic worlds are having effects on the real estate industry. Some of these developments affect the residential and commercial sides of the business differently, while others are common challenges all practitioners will face. As 2019 approaches, here are a few short-term and long-term hurdles you should know.Short-term Issues 1. Interest rates and the economy: T
Buyers are spending significant time trying to find the perfect home. Fifty-four percent of active buyers say they’ve been trying to find the right home for three months or longer, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Trends Report poll.Buyers say the biggest delays that are stretching out their home search is they can’t find a home at an affordable price (49%), followed by not being able to find a home with the d
This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.
