The construction cranes dotting the skylines of major North American cities are largely working on residential projects, according to the July 2018 Crane Index report by Rider Levett Bucknall, the international property and construction consultancy. The data released this week also shows the national tower crane tally is climbing. There were 423 construction cranes counted in July 2018, a more than 10 percent increase from to the 383 cranes cou
Borrowers got stuck with higher mortgage rates again this week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed for the second consecutive week, averaging 4.6 percent. Mortgage rates are now at their fourth highest level of the year, Freddie Mac reports.“The higher rate environment, coupled with the ongoing lack of affordable inventory, has led to a drag on existing-home sales in the last few months,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
Commercial real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield made its debut on the stock market on Thursday, with shares jumping up to 7 percent in its initial public offering on the first day of trading. Cushman ended Thursday trading at $17.81 per share on the New York Stock Exchange.“Being public gives us a currency where we can accelerate our growth even above where it has been these days,” Brett White, CEO of Cushman, told CNBC.The company offe
An empty parcel in Los Angeles could potentially become the most expensive piece of real estate ever sold, CBS News reports. Labeled “The Mountain,” the 157-acre lot in Beverly Hills is the highest point in the 90210 ZIP code and offers up 360-degree views of Los Angeles County.The plot contains 17 parcels of land; six are zoned for homes. The land also comes with permission to build 1.5 million square feet of living space. Bloomberg estimate
Eighteen active wildfires spreading throughout California have scorched an area larger than the entire city of Los Angeles, officials said Wednesday. Communities spanning from Redding in Northern California to Riverside County in Southern California are all under threat.The impact on the housing market, however, could be mixed. Realtor.com® notes that property values will most likely plummet in some areas and may take years to recover. But in so
Housing inventories in high-priced markets are gradually making a turnaround. One-third of the largest 45 U.S. metros saw a yearly increase in housing inventory in July, realtor.com® reports. In some markets, the inventory increase has been dramatic. For example, in Silicon Valley, the San Jose metro posted a 44 percent increase in inventory compared to a year ago.The greater number of choices, however, doesn’t mean lower prices. The median li
Smoking in a home can reduce that property’s resale value by up to 29 percent, according to realtor.com®. And home buyers who fall for a home that reeks of smoke shouldn’t assume the odor will go away as soon as the smoker moves out.Tobacco-specific nitrosamines and nitrous acid can cling to walls and other surfaces within the house. “You could breathe in several hundred nanograms of these carcinogens long after the last cigarette burned o
The U.S. Senate approved a bill Tuesday to keep the National Flood Insurance Program operating for four more months. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill, which cleared the House last week, into law before midnight Tuesday, when the program expires.“We applaud lawmakers for taking this needed action to prevent disruptions to closings in thousands of communities across the country,” Elizabeth Mendenhall, president of the Natio
Owners can often conserve more money once housing costs and living necessities are all covered. However, a new study shows those who rent can barely get by in some cities.PropertyShark and RentCafe teamed up for a study on discretionary income and analyzed the top 50 largest cities where an owner or a renter can save the most money after paying living costs. For living costs, estimates for food, health care, entertainment, and transportation were
Contract signings rose in all four major regions across the U.S. last month, a sign that dwindling home sales—which have plagued the market at an unusual time of year this summer—will reverse course in the coming months, the National Association of REALTORS® reports.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 0.9 percent month over month in June to a reading of 106.9. “After two str
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