Mortgage Rates Jump After Sleepy Holiday Season
The prospect of weakening international demand to buy U.S. debt, at the same time as Uncle Sam may need to begin selling more debt to make ends meet, likely helped push mortgage interest rates to their highest point in months early this week.
Hottest Markets for 2018 Include Tech Hotspots, Southeastern Charmers
Some markets have proven hotter than others – kept at a boil by healthy income growth, abundant job opportunities and above-average housing appreciation.
TPS-Protected Salvadoran Homeowners Paid Approx. $100M in Property Taxes Last Year
Salvadoran homeowners previously granted Temporary Protective Status (TPS) as immigrants likely paid at least roughly $100 million in property taxes nationwide last year, with more than half the total coming from taxes paid in California and Texas.
Tax Reform and Housing: All Your Questions Answered
New tax reform legislation makes major changes to longstanding federal tax incentives for homeowners -- and brings lots of questions. Here are some answers.
Mortgage Rates Quiet Over New Year’s Holiday
Friday’s December Jobs Report will be another opportunity for markets to assess the state of the U.S. labor market. If the data come in as expected, they should show a strong job market at the end of 2017.
Zillow’s Prediction of 2017 Homeless Numbers in Line With Actual Counts
Predictions of the 2017 point-in-time counts in 17 out of 25 metro areas were within the 99 percent predicted interval.
Total Value of All U.S. Homes: $31.8 Trillion. How Big Is That?
It's more than 1.5 times the Gross Domestic Product of the United States and approaching three times that of China. Total U.S. home values have grown $1.95 trillion over the past year -- more than all of Canada's GDP or two companies the size of Apple.
Americans Split on Fairness of Local Property Tax Rates
Currently, Americans overall are almost evenly split on the fairness of the property tax rate in their community. Looking ahead, it’s unclear how these attitudes may shift as federal tax changes set to take effect in 2018 potentially lead more to fully feel the pinch of local property tax bills.
Mortgage Rates Ending 2017 Slightly Below 2016
Despite three rate hikes by the Federal Reserve over the past year (four if one counts the last 13 months), the standard 30-year fixed mortgage rate ends 2017 about 20 basis points below where it stood at the end of 2016. It is difficult to imagine this continuing much into 2018.
Case-Shiller October Results and November Forecast: Still Defying Gravity
The housing market’s resistance to headwinds is a testament to the enduring value Americans place on homeownership. The Case-Shiller National Index for October climbed 6.2 percent year-over-year. Seattle, Las Vegas and San Diego continued to post the strongest annual gains in its 20-City Composite Index, with increases of 12.7 percent, 10.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.
