Housing Inventory

New-home sales exceed forecast following upward revision

Sales of new US homes exceeded forecasts in July after an upward revision to the prior month, as prices eased and heavy incentives enticed more buyers off the fence. Contract signings on new single-family homes ticked down to a 652,000 annualized rate, with the strongest demand in the West, according to a government report issued […]

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Older adults support many types of housing regulation reform

Older adults support changing zoning laws to make homebuilding easier, according to new surveys by AARP and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Older adults overwhelmingly want to age in place, but their homes are often unsuited to aging, while rising home prices and a shortage of housing inventory makes it difficult to move. The desire of

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Pittsburgh, Cleveland top global metro affordability list

Pittsburgh and Cleveland rank as the world’s most affordable major housing markets, but a new report finds that not a single metro area among 95 studied actually qualifies as affordable. The annual Demographia International Housing Affordability report — released by Chapman University — measured affordability by dividing median home prices by median household incomes. Pittsburgh

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Home purchase cancellations hit 8-year high

Nearly 58,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in July, equal to 15.3% of homes that went under contract during the month, according to a Redfin analysis of MLS data. That marks the highest July cancellation rate since the company began tracking the metric in 2017 — and up from 14.5% a year ago. Analysts point

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Homebuyers in the US canceled contracts at record rate for July

Home-purchase contracts in the US were canceled at a record rate for July as jittery buyers got cold feet.  About 58,000 agreements fell through last month, equivalent to 15.3% of homes that went under contract, according to Redfin. It was the highest cancellation rate for a July in data going back to 2017, the brokerage

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ADUs could remedy America’s housing crisis, but obstacles remain

Industry veteran Bill Dallas, chairman of Dallas Capital and former president of Finance of America, says accessory dwelling units (ADUs) still face major hurdles before they can become a reliable solution to what he calls the nation’s “largest social challenge:” affordable housing. “One of the challenges… is that the laws are so difficult and varied

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Existing home sales surprise with positive growth in July

Existing home sales in July exceeded monthly estimates and demonstrated year-over-year growth. However, it’s important to remember that we started from a low baseline for sales in 2024, so this year-over-year growth needs to be viewed in context. For those who have been following our weekly tracker, we’ve noted that year-over-year data should turn positive

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Michigan cities, lawmakers seek $800M for housing incentives

Michigan cities and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers are backing a $160 million annual budget proposal aimed at increasing housing construction and rehabilitation through local zoning changes and financial incentives. Officials say it could spur 10,000 new homes over five years — or about 2,000 a year — at a total cost of $800

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Housing starts rise to five-month high, led by multifamily

Housing starts in the US climbed in July to five-month high, led by the strongest pace of multifamily construction in more than two years. New residential construction increased 5.2% last month to an annualized rate of 1.43 million homes, according to government figures released Tuesday. That was above all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of

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Home Depot sales gain as shoppers opt for smaller projects

Home Depot Inc. sales returned to growth in the second quarter as shoppers invested in smaller projects, such as lighting and gardening. The world’s largest home-improvement retailer said comparable sales grew 1% in the quarter, modestly below what analysts had estimated but an improvement from a 3.3% slump a year ago. “These may be shallow

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