Mortgage rates continued to inch higher this week, marking the sixth consecutive week for borrowing cost increases for home shoppers.“Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index report showed higher-than-expected inflation; headline consumer price inflation was 2.1 percent year-over-year in January, two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the consensus forecast,” explains Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist. “Inflation measures w
First-time home buyers are entering the market under tight inventory conditions and rising home prices. But not all cities are posing a challenge for those looking to break in to homeownership.A new study by LendingTree ranks the top cities for first-time home buyers in the nation’s 100 largest cities. They factored in average down payment amounts, the share of buyers using an FHA mortgage, the share of homes sold that the median income family
Make way for a new cryptocurrency: Property Coin is being touted as the first real estate-backed digital currency.Aperture Real Estate Ventures, a Los Angeles–based real estate technology and investment firm, plans to launch the cryptocurrency at the end of February. Until then, the company is giving investors an “opportunity to own a professionally managed portfolio of real estate assets via the blockchain.”The creators are presenting Prop
The gap between appraised value and homeowner price expectations widened in January, the first time in eight months. Quicken Loans’ Price Perception Index showed appraisers valued homes an average of 0.6 percent lower than what homeowners estimated. The difference seems slight but, on an average-priced home, it could mean a couple thousand dollars’ difference from sellers.“The appraisal is one of the most important pieces of data in the mor
As property prices rise, more small real estate investors are reportedly are teaming up with others so they can afford their next flip or rental property. They’re pooling funds with friends, relatives, or other investors to pay for their next property, and that means sharing the risks and profit that go along with that plan.The most common partnerships are among those who want to keep and rent out their properties after fixing them up, because
It seems a 1,000-plus point drop in the stock market last week mixed with rising interest rates may have been enough to give homeowners and buyers the jitters. Overall mortgage applications last week dipped 4.1 percent week over week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.Broken out, mortgage applications for home purchases plunged 6 percent last week. However, that number is still 4 percent higher tha
Could love-themed addresses help you sell a listing faster? A study from Sharestates, a crowdfunding platform for real estate investors, examined sales data on streets with names including words such as Hart, Diamond, and Valentine in New York City, upstate New York, and Long Island. They looked at the return on investment, after-repair value, median sales prices, and increase in demand.Researchers found that homes on Hart Street in Brooklyn had
Some of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s programs could be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal. Trump released his budget plan on Monday, with a proposal to cut HUD’s funding by about $8.8 billion, or 18 percent of its 2017 levels.The proposal would reduce Section 8 federal housing subsidies, eliminate the $1.9 billion fund for public housing capital repairs, and end funding to the fe
It’s a good time to be a homeowner: Nearly two-thirds of housing markets across the country saw home prices at all-time highs in the fourth quarter of 2017, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Tuesday.The national median existing single-family home price in the fourth quarter was $247,800, up 5.3 percent from a year ago. Ninety-two percent of the markets measured by NAR saw an uptick in single-family home prices. Twenty-six metros
With the backing of Fannie Mae, home-sharing giant Airbnb has announced a new partnership with select lenders, including Quicken Loans, Citizens Bank, and Better Mortgage, that will allow homeowners to report rental earnings as part of their income when applying to refinance a mortgage. Owners who rent rooms on Airbnb had been facing delays, higher interest rates, and loan limitations when refinancing.“This initiative was developed to identif
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