The number of equity-rich properties in the U.S. may have reached a tipping point, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ First Quarter 2018 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report. Equity-rich properties in the U.S. in the second quarter are down from their peak in the second quarter of 2017. ATTOM Data Solutions defines “equity rich” as borrowers who have at least 50 percent equity in their property.“We’ve reached a tipping point in this
Homeownership is still considered vital to the American dream. But for many Americans, joining that dream also means living in a place of economic opportunity and diverse communities.SmartAsset, a personal finance resource, ranked the best places for living the American dream by looking at five key metrics: homeownership rates, diversity rates, upward mobility rates, median home values, and unemployment rates.According to the study’s finding
T-Mobile US and Sprint Corp. are making plans for a $26.5 billion merger. If approved, it could create a wireless company that would be close in size to rivals AT&T and Verizon. The merger could also reshuffle thousands of square feet of real estate in the retail space.The merged firms would operate under the T-Mobile name with two headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., and Overland Park, Kan.In the retail space, there will be some initial closure
The Federal Reserve decided Wednesday that it would not raise rates and keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged, despite rising inflation. Mortgage rates are not directly tied to the Fed’s benchmark rate, but they do tend to be influenced by them.The Federal Open Markets Committee had raised rates for the first time in 2018 at its last meeting in March. At that time, it had increased the federal funds rate by 25 basis points.At May’s meeti
Would-be home buyers and refinancing homeowners both receded from the mortgage market last week as mortgage rates surged to their highest averages in nearly five years. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index showed that total application volume, which includes home purchases and refinances, dropped 2.5 percent last week and are now 3.3 percent lower than a year ago.Refinance volume took most of the hit, dropping 4 percent
DocuSign, the e-signature company that helped usher in the era of digital real estate closings, debuted as an initial public offering on April 27 and is off to a strong start. Shares of DocuSign ended up 37 percent higher by the end of its first day of trading on the Nasdaq. DocuSign is NAR’s official and exclusive eSignature provider under the REALTOR Benefits® Program and an NAR Strategic Investment Company.DocuSign priced its IPO at $29 a
Student housing has long been attractive to real estate investors. So where are developers adding the most inventory? Student housing developers aren’t branching out much, but instead are staying by larger universities they know can deliver.“Tier one markets continue to attract the most development and are still being targeted by the institutional capital that is pouring into the space,” Taylor Gunn, the student housing analytics lead for M
New Jersey homeowners pay the most in property taxes in the nation, and homeowners there also find taxes make up some of the highest percentages of their total housing costs in the nation. A new study by SmartAsset, a personal finance resource, found that seven cities—five of which are in New Jersey—had property taxes that were more than 30 percent of the cost of owning a home. The average effective property tax in New Jersey is 2.19 percent,
Employment numbers are on the rise across most of the country, but job growth is strongest in the West and South. Utah posted the highest growth, at 3.3 percent. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia saw annualized growth between 0.2 percent and 1.4 percent year over year in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Idaho and Nevada have the nation’s fastest-growing populations, which increased at rates of 2.2 percent and 2 pe
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it has fixed what’s become known as an information “black hole” in the Know Before You Owe mortgage rules, and the agency is attempting to provide greater clarity to borrowers when it comes to disclosing increases in closing costs. Under a new amendment to the mortgage rules, the CFPB clarifies when lenders are allowed to pass increased closing costs on to consumers and makes the disclosure of
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