Stagnant economic conditions for middle-class America continue to put some real estate markets on uneven ground.NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun, who presented his latest economic outlook at the 2017 REALTOR® Broker Summit in San Diego, said lifetime wealth is at an all-time high in the U.S. However, this wealth is highly concentrated in the top 10 percent, while middle-income earners’ wealth has seen relatively no gain over the past 16 ye
Parents are having a tough time saving money. Fifty-one percent of parents recently surveyed say their mortgage was having a “major impact” on their ability to save, according to Bankrate’s Money Pulse survey for February.“It’s probably not as much about the mortgage as it is that stage of life,” says Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist.Homeowners with children are likely to be in their early 30s to mid 50s and have many
Baby boomers may be sparking a remodeling boom. Homeowner spending on remodeling projects is expected to see steady growth through 2025, according to Demographic Change and the Remodeling Outlook, released by Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Older owners are expected to make up the majority of those spending gains over the coming years too as they adapt their homes to be able to age in place.Expenditures by homeowners over age 55 are ex
Sales of newly built, single-family homes increased 3.7 percent last month, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 555,000 units, the Commerce Department reports."We can expect further growth in new home sales throughout the year, spurred on by employment gains and a rise in household formations," says Robert Dietz, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. "As the supply of existing homes remains tight, more consumers
Americans are less mobile than they used to be. In 2015, only 12 percent of Americans had moved to a new address within the past year. In 1948, the percentage of movers was 20 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.“There are two main determining factors whether people move or not,” says Nathalie Williams, a sociology professor from the University of Washington. “The better people feel their lives are going, the less likely they are
Pending home sales weakened in January as insufficient supply levels of homes for sale continues to press on many markets, particularly in the Midwest and West, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Monday.NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, dropped 2.8 percent to a reading of 106.4 in January. The latest reading on the index is about 0.4 percent above a year ago, but it’s the lowe
Homeownership continues to be an important part of many Americans’ retirement plan. So where is homeownership in retirement seeing some of the biggest growth?Six of the 10 cities where retiree homeownership is rising the fastest are located in warm weather climates, a new analysis by SmartAsset shows. Their research looked at cities with populations of greater than 50,000 and measured the percentage change between the 2006 retiree homeownership
REALTORS will play a key role in helping homeowners live more comfortably and be more financially secure in retirement, as three out of four adults say they plan to downsize their home to lower ongoing costs and cash in on the equity.According to the results of a new survey of 3,718 adults by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, in order to help fund retirement, 67 percent would be willing to move to a less expensive location, 47 percent would consider se
Strengthening demand from smaller markets will help the commercial sector see stable growth and offer “decent” returns for investors in 2017, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ quarterly commercial real estate forecast.NAR predicts that the national office vacancy rate will drop 1.1 percentage points to 12.1 percent this year. Job growth in the business and professional services sector is expected to increase the need for
The majority of contracts settle on time, but more than a quarter of practitioners are citing delays due to common culprits.In the latest REALTORS® Confidence Index report, 29 percent of real estate professionals say they faced a delay to settlement and 5 percent reported a contract that was terminated. Sixty-seven percent of practitioners reported their contracts were settled on time.Among the contracts that had a delay to settlement, 38 percen
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