New Construction - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

New-Home Construction: A ‘Bonanza’ for Thieves

The uptick in new-home construction in some parts of the country is creating a “bonanza” for thieves, CBS 13 in Sacramento, Calif., reports. In Sacramento alone, police have received 26 reports of thefts from new neighborhoods under construction. The thieves are reportedly stealing everything from tools to newly installed appliances inside the homes.This has prompted police to warn residents and send out more patrols into newly constructed c

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Family Becomes First Occupants in 3D-Printed Home

A family in France will soon be the first in the world to move into a house completely printed and constructed from a 3D printer. The four-bedroom home in Nantes, France, sits at 1,022 square feet, and is a collaboration between the city council, a housing association, and the University of Nantes. Francky Trichet, the council lead on technology and innovation, says he believes the 3D-printed home process will disrupt the construction industry an

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Some Design Trends Create Noise Pollution in Homes

Smart-home gadgetry and design trends emphasizing openness are leading to more noise disturbances, such as echoes, inside homes. Some homeowners are even hiring “acoustic consultants” to help alleviate the issues.A common noise-prone living arrangement is an open floor plan with a minimalist design, where more emptiness and fewer items of furniture enable reverberations inside the home. It can make make it difficult for owners to pick up othe

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Mobile Homes Could Fill Large Inventory Gaps

Home inventory of has fallen near record lows across the country, but more consumers are in need of a place to live. Some economists say manufactured homes—also known as mobile homes or trailers—may be the answer to relieve housing shortages in some markets starved for greater affordable housing.About 5.6 percent of Americans—or 17.7 million—live in manufactured homes. These types of homes provide shelter for one in 10 households who live

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Homeowners Spending More to Remodel

Homeowners are eyeing their kitchens and bathrooms when it comes to home sprucing. The median spending cost on kitchen remodels rose 10 percent year over year in 2017, according to home remodeling website Houzz’s latest study, “2018 Houzz & Home: Overview of U.S. Renovation.” Other bathrooms and master bathrooms were the second and third most popular rooms, respectively, that homeowners claimed they wanted to renovate.Four in five reno

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New-Home Sales Jump to Highest Level of 2018

The month of May saw a record number of new-home purchases. Sales of newly built single-family homes increased 6.7 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 689,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Monday. It marks the highest number of new-home sales of the year and the second highest in sales since the Great Recession.“Sales numbers continue to grow, spurred on by rising home equity, job growth, and reports of a greater nu

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Why New Homes Are Getting Pricier

More than 90 percent of builders say that rising lumber prices are hampering the affordability of new homes, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Recently surveyed builders say that the higher construction costs are causing more prospective buyers to back out of purchasing a new home as well.Builders are blaming the rising construction costs on the increase in lumber prices over the past year an

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Neighborhood Activism Influences Inventory Woes

Homebuilders report that some of their attempts to add new homes are being blocked by local zoning boards and neighboring owners who are trying to stop new development.“A lot of cities are reaching a crisis of affordability and supply of housing,” Rachel Meltzer, an urban policy professor at The New School in New York, told realtor.com®. “But cities can really use [zoning] to direct how housing is built.”Growing groups of neighborhood ac

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New-Home Construction Surges to Highest Level in Decade

More new homes entered the pipeline in May than any other month since the end of the Great Recession. Total housing starts increased 5 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate pace of 1.35 million units, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That marks the highest housing starts since July 2007.Broken out, single-family starts rose 3.9 percent to 939,000 units in May—the second-highest reading since the Great Recession. The multi

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Real Estate Developers Take Wellness Into Account

A growing number of developers believe wellness home features are a big pull for buyers. The wellness real estate boom first sought to make office environments healthier, and now it is focusing more on the residential market, according to a new report released by the Global Wellness Institute. Homes that are designed for wellness usually focus on energy efficiency and sustainable construction first, and then look at wellness programs withi

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