Posts by Editor

April’s Single-Family Starts Show Improvement

By Kerry Smith Overall housing starts increased 2.2% in April and the single-family component rose 1.6% – a gradual improvement, though down 28.1% year-to-year. WASHINGTON – April single-family production hit its highest rate so far this year, due in part to a lack of existing inventory and stabilizing mortgage rates. Overall housing starts in April increased 2.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.40 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The unit rate is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept
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HUD/NAHB Host ‘Innovative Housing’ Showcase

By Kerry Smith A free June 9-11 event in Washington will feature some outside-the-box affordable housing solutions. Two Fla. companies are exhibitors; some events will be online. WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced new details regarding the Innovative Housing Showcase, including the first round of exhibitors. The Showcase will be an open-to-the-public event on the National Mall. The goal, according to HUD, is to “raise awareness of innovative and affordable housing designs and technologies that have the potential to increase housing supply, lower the cost of construction, increase
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Fewer Firms Require Full-Time Attendance

By Matthew Boyle Low unemployment puts workers in the driver’s seat, postponing hoped-for boosts to the office market. On Wall Street, only 20% of firms require full-time office work. NEW YORK – Fewer banks are requiring employees to be in the office five days a week, despite some Wall Street chiefs’ clamor to scrap remote-work arrangements. Just 20% of financial-services companies require full-time in-office work, according to a new survey of 251 industry firms by Scoop, which helps companies coordinate hybrid teams. That’s down from 22% who said so the previous quarter. The share of banks that allow fully flexible
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2 Fla. Cities in Top 10 for ‘Best Places to Live’

Sarasota, Florida By Kerry Smith U.S. News & World Report for 2023-2024: Sarasota ranked No. 5 and Naples No. 6. Fla. cities landed 7 of the top 50 spots and 12 of the top 100 spots. WASHINGTON – U.S. News & World Report calls itself “the global authority in rankings and consumer advice.” That may be an overreach, but the magazine’s city rankings carry a lot of weight with consumers. This week U.S. News & World Report unveiled its 2023-2024 Best Places to Live in the nation – a ranking of the country’s 150 most populous metropolitan areas based on
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May Builder Confidence Improves to ‘Normal’

By Kerry Smith Few existing-home listings translate into a boom for new-home builders. NAHB’s index rose to 50 this month – a midpoint balance between optimism and pessimism. WASHINGTON – Limited existing-home inventory has placed a renewed emphasis on new construction. The result: A solid gain for builder confidence in May, even though the industry continues to face several challenges, including building material disruptions and tightening credit conditions. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for May, builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes rose five points to 50. It’s
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Inflation Causes Americans to Cut Back on Remodeling

By Michelle Chapman Home Depot sales surged during pandemic lockdowns but fell short of expectations in 1Q 2023. Consumers still want to remodel but they’re now choosing smaller projects. ATLANTA – After years of explosive growth during the pandemic, Home Depot’s revenue during the first quarter fell short of expectations and the company cut its profit and sales outlook for the year, sending shares skidding before the opening bell Tuesday. It was a rough start to a busy week of retail earnings and the numbers from the nation’s biggest home improvement chain dragged down retails stocks as well as the
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Condo Buyers Wait for Milestone Inspections

By Amber Bonefont Safety inspections mandated after 2021’s Surfside collapse have created new uncertainty in some buyers’ minds. They now want to wait until they can read the results. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Some uncertainty among potential condominium buyers is brewing as they wait to see how the latest state guidelines on condo safety play out. Florida lawmakers approved a revised version in early May of last year’s guidelines on ensuring safety in condo buildings in an effort to smooth out the process, though experts say that some buyers are choosing to wait to see what happens with assessments before
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Denied a Mortgage? You’re Not Alone

By Marilyn Kennedy Melia Survey: In 2022, lenders denied a loan to 28% of mortgage applicants, down from 34% in 2021. It came as a surprise to many because they had been pre-approved. NEW YORK – Applying for a mortgage is like taking a test to graduate. Except instead of a diploma, the prize is a home. The “pass” rate on mortgage approval, though, is surprisingly low. Surveying 4,900 buyers, the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2022 finds that in 2022, 28% of applicants were denied a mortgage, down from 34% in 2021. Often, denial comes as a surprise since
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A Loss of Small Banks Could Hurt Homebuyers

Smaller banks are often experts for niche buyer markets – such as residents of certain neighborhoods or ethnic groups – that would suffer if the banks went away. NEW YORK – Canandaigua and Manhattan’s Chinatown are about as different from each other as two places in the same state can be. One is a small town in New York’s bucolic Finger Lakes region, where almost everyone is a white English-speaker. Chinatown packs nearly 10 times as many residents, many of them foreign-born and Chinese-speaking, into a much smaller space. What links them, and many other small towns and neighborhoods across
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It’s a Tough Market for Buyers – Many Don’t Care

By Kerry Smith Survey: Most would-be buyers (55%) know it’s a really tough market right now, but a majority (54%) still plan to maintain current goals or speed up the buying process. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Many hopeful homebuyers – especially those in their 40s and younger – are forging ahead with plans to buy homes despite believing the market favors sellers, according to Bank of America’s 2023 Homebuyer Insights Report. More than half of prospective homebuyers surveyed (55%) believe the market is more competitive than last year – but just as many (54%) plan to either speed up their home
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