Housing markets

Homebuyers are favoring newly built properties at the highest rate in more than a decade.

Also: NMN analyzes political donations from the industry, foreclosure and eviction ban extended to year's end.

Blackstone Group, which led Wall Street's initial foray into the single-family rental business, is making a new investment in suburban houses at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is pressuring traditional commercial real estate.

Orange County, Calif., home buying rebounded last month to levels above 2019, a buying surge that pushed the median sales price to its sixth record high of 2020.

The number of new housing permits issued in Connecticut communities in July rose 10.2% over the same period in 2019, officials with the state Department of Economic and Community Development said.

Pending home sales rose in July by more than forecast to the highest level since 2005, signaling the housing market’s sharp recovery will continue with borrowing costs to stay low for the foreseeable future.

After three straight months of double-digit percentage declines, single-family home sales in Massachusetts rebounded to set new records in July.

With mortgage rates and housing inventory both at all-time lows, the majority of consumers would overshoot their budgets for the right home without accounting for future costs, according to LendingTree.

Mortgage application volume decreased 6.5%, falling for the second consecutive week with refinance activity at its lowest since early July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In the list of numbers summing up the Bakersfield, Calif., single-family home market last month, one figure better than any other explains why buyers are bidding up prices lately.

Like much during the pandemic, the latest news on home prices inspires a definite sense of deja vu.

The housing market reaped the rewards of new construction increasing before the coronavirus took effect, netting a boost in July sales, according to Redfin.

There is a shortage of notaries and that is being made worse by those lenders that don't offer remote online notarization.

New-home sales jumped to the highest level in almost 14 years in July as low mortgage rates helped fuel a suburban construction boom.

Record low mortgage rates helped make last month the best July on record for home sellers in the Twin Cities with sales — and prices — up double-digits.

Fresno is one of the more affordable markets compared to the rest of the state, where the median home value is $258,502 with a rent of $1,395, while the average price across California is $578,267 with a median mortgage of $2,775.

Five months of remote work, bedroom-to-desk commutes and child-populated home offices have failed to ignite a great Bay Area exodus, but over in Lake Tahoe, July home sales more than doubled over last year.

As swelling demand constricts inventory to record-low levels, home price growth cuts into the purchasing power afforded by plunging interest rates, according to First American.

Home prices in San Diego County blew past previous records to hit an all-time high of $634,000 in July.

While those migrating from New York and New Jersey found housing they could afford, many Cape Cod residents saw the gap widen between what they could pay for a mortgage or rent given their diminished economic circumstances.