Utility companies will pay less tax from a recent tax overhaul, and many are planning to pass those savings on to customers. Rate changes may shave a few dollars off the average customer’s bill in the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reports.The federal government slashed its corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Regulated gas and electric utilities will have to pay less tax, and some state authorities may give regulated ut
Millennials faces high student debt, soaring rents, and increasing property prices. But a new study shows they aren’t the generation who is dealing with the greatest hardships when it comes to breaking into the housing market. Instead, Generation X—those born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s—is the age segment that is having the toughest time saving up to buy a new home, a report from the National Association of REALTORS® sho
The highest mortgage rates in four years caused a pause in mortgage applications from home buyers and refinancers during a time when the market generally starts picking up in preparation for the spring season. Any shakeout from dips in the stock market in recent days will become more evident in mortgage demand in next week’s report from the Mortgage Bankers Association.Total mortgage application volume last week—which reflects home purchase
The majority of renters say they want to own a home in the future and believe that homeownership is a critical piece of the American dream. But making the leap into homeownership is facing bigger hurdles as the market sees higher home prices and a shortage of homes for sale, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released Aspiring Home Buyers Profile, which is based on findings from a survey of more than 10,000 households’
Homeowners are optimistic that their home’s value will continue to increase, and they’re increasingly turning to home equity loans to try to make their homes even more valuable. But a new survey shows they’re unclear on how new tax reform laws could impact home equity loans.More than 80 percent of about 1,000 homeowners recently surveyed said that they believe the value of their home will increase over the next three years as well as over t
A pilot project in South Burlington, Vt., is using blockchain technology to digitize real estate transactions and make them speedier to process. South Burlington’s city clerk’s office has teamed with Propy Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.–based real estate blockchain startup.Real estate transfers in the city will be recorded on a blockchain that can be accessed through an app or website by multiple entities involved in the transactions. It digiti
The average consumer’s life is filled with financial milestones, and buying a home is a major one. But when do most people reach the milestone of homeownership? Researchers at Comet Financial Intelligence, a student loan refinancing resource, surveyed 1,200 Americans on how long it took them to complete their financial “rites of passage” with homeownership and other savings hurdles. Among their findings: The millennial respondents surveyed
Mortgage rates are steadily rising, and some housing analysts are already forecasting an impact on the market from the higher borrowing costs.Heading into the spring buying season, the supply of homes remains at record lows, which presses home prices higher throughout the country. But as buyers face higher mortgage rate costs, will that prompt them to pause?Mortgage rates were near record lows for most of 2017, but they’ve been on the rise ev
Toll Brothers, a luxury homebuilder, filed a lawsuit against Southern California Gas over an extensive gas leak a few years ago that the builder claims caused one of its master plan developments to no longer be desirable to buyers.The 2015–2016 gas leak in the Aliso Canyon area in California is considered the worst natural gas leak in U.S. history. The leak lasted nearly four months. Thousands of residents from the Porter Ranch community and ne
The housing market likely won’t be deeply affected by the sharp decline in stocks over the last two days because underlying economic fundamentals remain strong, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®. Jobs are being created, workers are seeing wage gains, and there’s no recession on the horizon. Those data trends don’t support the theory that the stock market drop indicates a larger underlying problem
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