Quiz: Which Paint Colors Help Your House Sell for More?
What color front door can boost the typical U.S. home sale price by 2.9 percent? Which living room color is likely to make the price of a typical home pop the most?
Market Trends
Rapid Reaction: May Existing Home Sales
May existing home sales fell 0.4 percent from April and 3 percent from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.43 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. The fall represents the second straight monthly dip and third consecutive annual decline.
Mortgage Rates Drift Higher; Markets Digesting Fed Move, Comments
The Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) increased its target short-term interest rate this afternoon, but the move had been widely anticipated and already priced into markets. However, economic projections from the FOMC members suggested a more aggressive path of rate hikes moving forward.
Vacation Home Markets Have Yet to Rebound From Housing Bust
As the appeal of vacation homes has steadily eroded over the past decade, markets with the highest densities of vacation homes have underperformed the market in all but one year since 2010.
Rising Trend of Stay-at-Home Dads Hits All-Time High
The overall share of U.S. children living with a full-time, stay-at-home parent was unchanged in 2017 compared to 2016, and has remained largely flat since the mid-1990s. But even as full-time, stay-at-home parenting overall has stabilized, the share of stay-at-home dads has reached an all-time high.
Geopolitical Uncertainty Wanes, Pushing Mortgage Rates Back Up
As it became clear in the second half of last week that there would be no need for early elections in Italy and Spain, global political risk waned and mortgage rates rose steadily in response.
Birth Rates Dropped Most in Counties Where Home Values Grew Most
A recent decline in fertility was sharpest in counties where home values rose the most, and the change was smaller—and sometimes even up —where home value growth was weaker.
Negative Equity Dips Below 10 Percent for the First Time Since the Market Bottom
In the depths of the housing crisis – late 2011 and early 2012 – the share was 31 percent of homeowners with a mortgage. In the fourth quarter 2017, it dropped to 9.1 percent, the first time it’s fallen below 10 percent since the bottom of the market.
Republicans, Democrats Predictably Differ on Impact of Tax Reform on Housing
Democrats generally said the December 2017 tax reform legislation made it more difficult to buy a home while Republicans were more likely to say the law made it easier, according to the most recent Zillow Housing Aspirations Report.
Home Values Climbing at Fastest Rate in 12 Years (April 2018 Market Report)
The median U.S. home value rose 8.7 percent to $215,600 in April, the fastest year-over-year climb since June 2006, when the housing market was slowing from its bubble-driven, double-digit growth.
