As more states legalize marijuana for recreational and medical purposes, the housing industry is increasingly looking to embrace it as a building material too, The New York Times reports.North Carolina boasts the first modern U.S. hemp house, which was constructed in 2010. About 50 homes in the country have since popped up with hemp built in.Hemp structures date back to Roman times. But now, some builders want to bring it back to their markets
Higher prices are behind the land boom. The U.S. dollar volume of land sales increased at a stronger pace of 4 percent from October 2016 to September 2017 compared to the prior 12-month period, according to the 2017 Land Market Survey, produced by the REALTORS® Land Institute and the National Association of REALTORS®. Sales on all types of land posted an uptick; residential and commercial land sales grew by the highest amounts.Higher prices d
Cash sales accounted for 8 percent of new-home sales in the fourth quarter of 2017, matching a high that has not been seen since 2014, the National Association of Home Builders reports on its Eye on Housing blog. Cash sales make up an even larger share of existing-home sales—about 20 percent in December, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.Cash hardly makes up the bulk of financing options for buyers, however. The share of new h
The average credit score in the U.S. was 675 last year—the highest since 2012, according to Experian’s State of Credit: 2017 survey. More Americans fall on the higher end of the credit score spectrum, with 22 percent having “super-high” credit scores between 781 to 850 and 21 percent having “deep subprime” or very low credit scores below 600. Minnesota has the highest credit scores in the country, averaging 709.Mortgage debt was up
Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans were granted a three-month moratorium on their mortgage payments following Hurricane Maria’s destruction last fall. But many of those agreements expire this month, and thousands of homeowners are scrambling to get extensions.Further, some Puerto Ricans who may have stopped making their mortgage payments are now learning that the moratorium was not automatic. They believed their mortgages were frozen, but t
The Super Bowl attracts hundreds of millions of dollars in local tourism and retail business for the city that hosts football’s annual mega-event, but does it have a long-term impact on home sales?Realtor.com® researchers discovered that in host cities, there tends to be at least a 50 percent jump in the number of listings near the stadium where the game is held leading up to the Super Bowl. However, the longer-term impact varied and was more
President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address is slated for next week, but realtor.com® released its own “State of the Housing Union.” The housing market outlook is looking bright on several fronts: strong buyer demand, particularly among first-timers, and a growing U.S. economy urging more consumers to buy.But a housing shortage is also proving to be a major obstacle to achieving homeownership, according to the report.“The macro f
Fixed-rate mortgages increased again this week, the third consecutive week to see a rise.“Rates keep climbing,” says Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest point since 2014 reflecting expectations of broad-based economic growth. Mortgage rates, in turn, followed the surge in Treasury yields. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage jumped 11 basis points to 4.15 percent, its highest level since M
Major metros can still offer bargains for investors. Chicago emerged at the top of the list as the most affordable metro for renters, according to newly released rankings by HomeUnion, a real estate investment management firm. Chicago was the only metro nationwide in its analysis where renters, in general, spent less than 20 percent of their annual income on housing.“With its low cost of living, relatively large housing inventory levels, and hi
California housing markets are still among the top performers in the country, according to realtor.com®’s monthly rankings of the hottest housing markets. Realtor.com® ranks metros based on the most online listing views and the markets where homes are selling the fastest.Overall, the median home list price nationwide was $269,000 in January, 8 percent higher than a year ago. Still, list price increases have subdued somewhat in recent week
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