According to this HousingWire story, a good portion of the nation’s homebuyers fall into one of two camps: first-time buyers with low-interest FHA loans, and investors looking for single-family homes to rent. The battleground: the $225K to … [Read more...]

The New York Times has an interesting piece on how the boom in rentals has led to a boom in rental construction. Multifamily construction nationwide is two-thirds of the way back to its prerecession peak, while single-family home construction is … [Read more...]

With today’s 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaging a bit less than 3.5 percent, people can afford much more of a house than ever before. (And I mean that — ever. These are the lowest mortgage rates in US history.)(I also speak from … [Read more...]

The House of Representatives has been talking a lot about avoiding the fiscal cliff by reducing or eliminating tax deductions, and you know what’s going to be high on the list: the mortgage interest deduction. That’s why NAR has put out a … [Read more...]

One thing I’ve written several times is the idea that, over the long haul, house prices haven’t changed all that much since the early 1900s once they’ve been adjusted for inflation. A result of this is (I said) that housing prices … [Read more...]

Grandma’s coming back. It’s a trend to watch: older folks coming to live with their adult kids. Better medical science means people are living longer and better, but maybe not quite well enough to shovel their own snow or mow their own … [Read more...]