While housing affordability has been getting a hand from lower mortgage rates, it wasn’t enough to lift new-home sales last month.Sales of newly built single-family homes underperformed in what is traditionally the busiest time of year in the housing sector. New-home sales dropped 7.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000 units in May, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The number represents signed contracts, not closings
Government officials in some cities want to make it easier and less expensive to raise homes near coastal areas that suffer from repeated flood threats.Flooding is a threat to low-lying coastal communities. Federal flood insurance premiums are rising, and many believe they will continue to do so over future years.“The seas are rising … The flood maps continue to get updated, and more homes are in coastal high hazard areas,” Brandi Gabbard,
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the sponsored government enterprises that support the bulk of U.S. mortgages, are making it easier to buy a manufactured home, but observers say not enough of the public may be enticed.A year ago, Fannie Mae debuted a program that essentially regards high-end manufactured homes the same as on-site homes when it comes to financing. Freddie Mac followed suit in the spring. Fannie and Freddie hope that by offering more re
Metros that were once overlooked are proving to be popular places for LGBTQ consumers to live in, according to a new survey from realtor.com®. San Francisco continues to take the top spot, but members of the LGBTQ community are increasingly choosing places that also have strong antidiscriminatory laws and policies in place.“The LGBTQ community will identify a town or neighborhood and will turn it into a safe haven for thems
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that property owners can challenge government access to their land, which some view as a major victory for property rights.The court’s ruling stemmed from a case involving a Pennsylvania woman, Rose Mary Knick, whose land the town of Scott Township used in 2013 to access an old burial ground. Knick didn't grant the town permission to come on her property, and she sought damages in court for what she viewed
The era of real estate-focused reality television is encouraging too many homeowners to put aesthetics before function in their remodeling projects, industry experts note in a recent Forbes.com article. For example, the trend toward no-door kitchen cabinetry, which has been made popular by home improvement shows, isn’t a smart choice for a homeowner who isn’t a neat freak or who doesn’t have matching dishes.“Everyone wants a kitchen or ba
As homes age, more homeowners are looking to remodeling to spruce up their properties. Of the nation’s stock of 137 million units, nearly 80% are at least 20 years old, and 40% are at least 50 years old.Freddie Mac says its new mortgage product is to help home buyers finance or refinance fixer-uppers. Eligible buyers will be able to finance the purchase of their home and the cost of renovations into a single-close mortgage.“Research indicates
For Sale signs in front of places of worship are becoming more common as attendance at smaller churches dwindles. Some developers and home buyers are stepping in to transform the churches into their new home. A handful of former churches are being converted into single-family homes or apartments.In the U.S., church membership has been decreasing over the past two decades. About 50% of Americans belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque in 2018,
Some cities are taking up ordinances that would prohibit landlords from denying people housing on the basis of a criminal conviction. The Cook County Board of Commissioners’ recent approval of an ordinance, which allows those with criminal convictions to more readily get housing in the Chicago area, is adding to the momentum behind activists’ efforts.In nearly a dozen big cities, advocates are campaigning for the passage of “fair-chance hou
Indoor air quality is one of the top five environmental risks to public health, researchers say. After all, most people spend 90% of their time indoors, whether in homes, office buildings, or other structures. Ventilation is the “new frontier for making houses healthy,” Carl Seville of SK Collaborative, a green building consulting and certification firm, told Forbes.com in a recent article.There’s reason for the added attention. R
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