New home sales up quite a bit so far in 2015, but many market forces remain at work The good news continued for new construction in May, with new home sales rising 2.2 percent from April and 19.5 percent from May

Although international home sales declined last year, total dollar volume saw a 13 percent increase, according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors. From April 2014 to March 2015, total international sales were at an estimated $104 billion, compared

NAR reports home sale increases, though prices also continued to rise Existing-home sales rose 5.1 percent in May up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million, up from an upwardly revised 5.09 million in April, according to

The short term benefits and long term detriments of international buyers in the U.S. market International investors in the real estate market has been something of a hot topic over the past few years. Since the housing market crash,

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in June rose five points to 59 on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). That is the highest level of confidence since Sept. 2014.

  On June 17, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a proposed amendment to delay the effective date of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1, 2015. In the announcement, CFPB Director Richard Cordray described

How builders should prepare for TILA-RESPA Pending the approval of a proposed amendment to extend its compliance deadline to Oct. 1, in less than two months, the real estate industry will find itself operating under of TILA-RESPA. Depending on

Brokers and their businesses face 10 big dangers – none of them easily solved The real estate industry is on a precipice, and how it falls from that point will determine its future. That was the central statement – if not

New construction up in 2015, rising on the shoulders of the multifamily sector Housing starts may have been down 11.1 percent from April to May in the Census Bureau’s latest report, but building permits were an entirely different story.

Single-person housing is becoming a long-term solution, even into older years One of the most pronounced trends since the 1940s is the rise of the single-person household. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, single-person households were the second most common household type

In the last 10 years, the market share for multifamily construction has grown by an extraordinary amount In April, the most recent month for which we have data, multifamily construction soared 35.5 percent across the country from March. That was

A letter from industry leaders to Congress is urging lawmakers for a safety net against the Aug. 1 TRID deadline In less than two months, enforcement of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) regulation, which aims

Latest housing survey from MacArthur Foundation finds many Americans skeptical of housing and the wider economy What a difference a year makes – or, in the case of the MacArthur Foundation’s “How Housing Matters” survey,  what a difference a

Down payment trends may hint at first time homebuyer confidence The average down payment for single-family homes, condos and townhomes was down to 14.8 percent of the purchase price for Q1 2015, the lowest number since Q1 2012, according

Latest jobs report features interesting implications for housing May was a positive month for the U.S. labor market, with the economy adding 280,000 jobs and the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.5 percent, according to the latest analysis from

Are real estate agents employees, or independent contractors? Massachusetts’s highest court weighs in The highest court in Massachusetts has settled the matter – real estate agents are independent contractors, not employees. That was the state’s Supreme Judicial Court’s decision