Housing markets

Stuck between local zoning hurdles and a lack of ideal federal financing, ADUs could be an important aspect to unlocking much-needed inventory.

Sales in February rose 22.8 percent from the same month in 2020. A total of 1,062 homes changed hands last month compared with 865 the previous February, according to a Maine Listings report released Monday.

Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 18.2% to a 775,000 annualized pace from an upwardly revised 948,000 rate in the prior month, government data showed Tuesday.

These trends, in addition to the increase in appraisal contingency waivers, could add risk to mortgage lender businesses.

Contract closings decreased 6.6% from the prior month to an annualized 6.22 million from a downwardly revised 6.66 million in January, according to National Association of Realtors data released Monday.

The Military Urban Development Initiative, which is also open to civilians, allows buyers to select a lot, house design and mortgage.

A slower rate of appreciation looks more likely than depreciation in most markets, according to the company’s latest report.

Household formations, looser credit and an improved economy will overcome higher rates — and even the inventory shortage.

There are more than 60 banks and other firms financing flippers today, according to AlphaFlow, an investment firm that buys real estate loans from lenders. That’s an increase of almost 50% in a little more than two months.

But building permits near an almost 15-year high point to further gains in home construction in the months ahead. The data coincide with still-elevated homebuilder sentiment as the industry works to replenish lean inventory and meet housing demand.

Apart from saving more money, millennials prefer to spend their savings on a home down payment, Zonda economist Ali Wolf said.

As one of the few mortgage firms that finances singlewides, AFR’s decision to offer the product will lend momentum to major government-sponsored loan buyers’ efforts to expand their manufactured housing programs.

The gap between those that considered it a good or bad time to buy narrowed 10 percentage points in February, the tightest spread since last April, Fannie Mae found.

After the coronavirus spurred a great migration in search of literal greener pastures, homebuyers are returning to cities with the end of the pandemic in sight, according to Redfin.

With the pandemic’s radical disruption of the housing market, values grew at the highest rate in eight years, according to CoreLogic.

The number of home listings collapsed to the lowest level on record, leaving “nearly all of the shelves empty,” Glenn Kelman said in the company’s latest home sales report.

A gauge of U.S. pending home sales fell to a six-month low in January as buyers competed for a limited number of properties.

Purchases of new single-family homes increased 4.3% to a 923,000 annualized pace in January from an upwardly revised 885,000 rate in the prior month, government data showed Wednesday.

Berkeley is the latest city looking at opening up exclusive neighborhoods to more housing as the region struggles with exorbitant rents and home prices and increasing homelessness.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index of property values climbed 10.1% from a year earlier, beating the median estimate of 9.9% in a Bloomberg survey of economists.