Market News

How we buy homes has undergone a significant transformation in the past year. The proof is in newly released data that shows a record number of recent home buyers made an offer on a home without having ever visited it in person. The numbers, from an online real-estate portal, show 63 percent of buyers who purchased a home last year …

Remote work has Americans spreading out and the trend doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time soon. More and more, Americans are moving further from city centers and into suburbs and exurbs. In fact, according to one recent survey, two-thirds of participants said they either already had, or would like to, move somewhere within 50 miles of their current …

The number of homes for sale was already low at the beginning of 2020. It only got worse from there. The pandemic, along with surging buyer demand, led to fewer choices and higher prices for hopeful home buyers. Homes sold quickly as competition spiked. But where was for-sale inventory at the end of the year? Well, according to a new …

Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index measures Americans’ perception of the current housing market and their personal financial situation. The index serves as a gauge of how optimistic consumers are about buying or selling a home. In December, sentiment declined from the month before, with fewer Americans saying it’s a good time to enter the market. Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s …

Staging your home is one of the best ways to generate interest in the listing and get offers quickly. You can opt to stage your home yourself, but many sellers prefer working with a professional. Hiring a stager has a number of benefits and can make the entire process of selling your home much easier. […]

Home design trends, by their nature, come and go. There’s always a hot new color or a must-have fashion. And just as quickly as they appear, they’re erased and replaced with the next hot new thing. But when you ask home buyers and homeowners what they want from their homes – beyond the aesthetics – their answers are remarkably consistent. …

Luxury isn’t easy to define. The dictionary says it’s “the state of great comfort and extravagant living.” But since that leaves a lot to interpretation, we all have different ideas about what luxury really means. This is easy to see when thinking about the housing market. After all, a luxury home in one market can be vastly different than a …

November is mostly known for darker days, colder weather, and Thanksgiving. It’s not typically known for home shopping. But in 2020, buyer demand has been anything but typical – and November was no exception. In fact, according to the National Association of REALTORS’® most recent Pending Home Sales Index, the number of contracts to buy homes signed during November 2020 was …

The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices isn’t the only index tracking home-price activity, but it’s among the most closely followed. And, according to their most recent release, prices are rising. In fact, they were up 8.4 percent year-over-year at the end of October 2020. Craig J. Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones …

November 2020 sales of newly built, single-family homes were 20.8 percent higher than they were at the same time in 2019, according to new numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The gains are an encouraging sign, especially when combined with recent improvements in residential construction numbers. The new home market is …