Affordable Housing Challenges Persist in Austin Despite Rental DecreaseDespite a recent decrease in rent prices in the Austin area, many residents continue to struggle with finding affordable housing options. The story of Leigh Vladyka, an art teacher at an Austin public school, highlights the ongoing difficulties faced by individuals trying to make ends meet in a city where housing costs are rising faster than incomes.Leigh Vladyka's monthly ren
The latest Realtor.com Rental Report reveals a significant shift in the US housing market, as renting a starter home has become more financially advantageous than buying in all of the 50 largest metropolitan areas. This trend, observed since February, is driven by elevated mortgage rates, high home prices, and a decline in rents. However, in July, a milestone was reached in which renting became more affordable than buying in all major metros, a c
Inflation rose as expected in July, driven by higher housing-related costs, according to a Labor Department report Wednesday that is likely to keep an interest rate cut on the table in September.The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, increased 0.2% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.9%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for respective readings of 0.2% and 3%
The White House is expanding low-cost financing, easing regulations and incentivizing local reforms in a wide-ranging effort to increase housing supply.The White House is announcing $100 million in grants to state and local governments to spur the construction of new housing, one of a host of new administrative actions to boost housing supply.The Biden administration has witnessed record levels of housing production, driven by a pandemi
Borrowing costs have fallen to their lowest level in more than a year, but homebuying activity is only seeing small gains.Mortgage rates have fallen in recent weeks, but home buyers are showing restraint rather than rushing back into the housing market to snag a lower rate. ‘’The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.47% this week, Freddie Mac reports.Even as mortgage rates remain at their lowest level in more than a year, mortgage applicati
Americans who want to tap the rising equity of their homes without giving up their low mortgage rates are increasingly turning to home equity lines of credit.After almost 13 years of declines, balances on home equity lines of credit, known as HELOCs, have begun to rebound, gaining 20% since bottoming out at the end of 2021, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released Tuesday.Meanwhi
The Federal Reserve signals a possible rate cut could come in September. Could that cause rates to drop even lower?Home buyers and refinancers had the opportunity to lock in the lowest mortgage rates since early February this week, averaging 6.73%. Plus, the average mortgage rate is now lower than a year ago.The Federal Reserve also suggested this week that a possible cut to its key benchmark rate could take place this fall.That may prompt some p
The U.S. economy created fewer jobs than expected in July, showing further cooling in the labor market from last year’s overheated levels.Employers added 114,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. Economists’ consensus forecast had been for a gain of 175,000.The unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, above the consensus forecast for an unchanged 4.1%.The pace of job growth has decelerated fr
Despite mortgage rates near 7%, home buyers plow ahead with more options on the market. Read more from NAR’s latest housing report.Home buyers have more housing choices this summer, and home sellers may find stiffer competition on the market. Pending home sales rose nearly 5% in June as more house hunters went under contract for a home purchase. All four major regions of the U.S. posted monthly gains in transactions, according to the National A
U.S. commercial property prices arrested their series of declines in June after a year and a half of losses, MSCI Real Assets reported Thursday. The RCA CPPI National All Property Index was unchanged from a year ago and rose 0.6% from May. All sectors posted improved annual trends in June, with the exception of apartments.Industrial was again the best-performing property type, with prices up 8% from a year ago and close to 50% above the levels at
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