Earth Day will be celebrated this year on Saturday, and it brings some good news for environmental advocates: Homeowners are starting to prioritize sustainability in their new construction and renovation projects, as observed in the latest American Society of Interior Designers report, published in February. For many years, this aspiration frequently gave way to budget
Real Estate
Homes in Centreville, Maryland, US, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images Today’s homebuyers appear to be increasingly sensitive to weekly moves in mortgage rates. While home prices are easing some, affordability is still a major hurdle, especially as more first-time buyers enter the market. Last week, the average contract
Six months ago I predicted that home prices would fall, the number of houses sold would decline, and new construction would drop. Since then, home prices have come down a little, on average, but not too badly. The number of home sales is definitely way down. And the latest data on housing construction show that
People in Sweden are feeling the effects of high inflation and tumbling house prices. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / Contributor / Getty Images The Swedish government is now predicting a deeper than expected GDP contraction in 2023, according to data released Monday, worsening an already gloomy outlook for the country’s economy. Sweden’s Ministry of Finance estimated in
If rents continue to grow steadily, more residents will bite the bullet and purchase a property before paying higher prices for rent, Knight Frank’s Christine Li said. Fiftymm99 | Moment | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Foreign residents in Singapore continue to feel the pinch as home rental prices soar and show few signs of returning
Eric Hsu remembers a time when he was 10 days away from payday and had just $32 left. He had no savings. “I used the remaining money I had to buy loaves of white bread and I ate that for all three meals until my pay came in,” he told CNBC Make It. “Sometimes I
South_agency | E+ | Getty Images Inflation continued to retreat in March as energy prices pulled back from a year ago, when they began to spike due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But swings in gasoline and other energy mask price pressures that, while easing, remain under the surface, economists said. “It’s improving and the economy
Solar panels create electricity on the roof of a house in Rockport, Massachusetts, U.S., June 6, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. Brian Snyder | Reuters The residential real estate market has been volatile due to rising interest rates, but the peak spring season — if challenging for buyers and sellers — is here. For
A gated 75-acre estate in the heart of Bedminster, New Jersey, hunt country can accommodate an array of equestrian pursuits, with multiple riding arenas and thoughtfully designed modern barns surrounded by meticulously detailed landscaping. The property draws inevitable comparisons to world-class equestrian properties in Lexington, Kentucky, and Wellington and Ocala, Florida, said Sharon Ortepio of
A new home search site launched last week that aims to bring the process of finding a home to consumers without the for-profit model that has accompanied most real estate search sites since they first disrupted the industry nearly 20 years ago. Nestfully, a joint launch with several of the largest multiple listing services in
Unexpectedly strong home sales at the start of this year just reversed a sharp, several-month decline in home prices. Mortgage rates are behind the swing. Home prices nationally rose 0.16% in February, when seasonally adjusted, according to Black Knight. That is the strongest one-month gain since May of last year. Home prices are now 2.6%
The client approached my desk, clearly unhappy. Her new granite countertops didn’t look as handsome in her kitchen as she had expected. She thought maybe the fabricator had installed the wrong slab. I sent our project manager to the job site, paperwork in hand, to check. He confirmed that she did get the Santa Cecilia
Every modern commercial real estate transaction, or other business transaction, takes place largely through email. If it’s a major or complicated transaction, it will involve dozens of email recipients and senders – business people, lawyers, brokers, title companies, other service providers, and so on. Each email will beget a stream of additional emails as each
An ‘open house’ flag is displayed outside a single family home on September 22, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Allison Dinner | Getty Images Stress in the banking system turned out to be a boon for the U.S. mortgage market. As investors hid in the relative safety of the bond market, yields moved even lower
A “For Sale” sign outside of a home in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images Home prices cooled in January, up only 3.8% nationally than they were a year earlier, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index. That is down from 5.6%
Global warming has already caused irreversible damage to the earth’s ecosystems and communities, according to a critical report just issued from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The damage is extending to the U.S. housing market, which just saw unprecedented snow and flooding in California, as well as unusual winter tornados in the
This architectural home in Breckenridge, Colorado, is a standout with distinctive steel truss construction and metalwork accents. A pivoting front door and custom cold-poured steel walls set the dwelling’s design further apart in the resort town. Outshining the mountain contemporary itself, however, is the location. “Second to none,” says listing agent David Levinson of Slifer
A For Sale sign displayed in front of a home on February 22, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Mortgage demand has increased for three straight weeks now, as interest rates dropped in response to the recent bank failures. But rates are rising again, and that could put a damper on application
A “For Sale” sign outside of a home in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sales of previously owned homes rose 14.5% in February compared with January, according to a seasonally adjusted count by the National Association of Realtors. That put sales at an annualized rate of
Two U.S. bank failures sent Wall Street investors scurrying for the perceived safety of the bonds markets this week, providing the real estate industry with an unexpected boon on the brink of its busiest season: the lowest mortgage rates in three weeks. The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed-rate home loan fell to 6.6%