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Housing Headlines

Housing Headlines

ECONOMY

 

The Fiscal Times
The surprising problem that’s holding back the housing market
One reason that tight inventory continues to constrain the U.S. housing market is that homebuilders are having trouble finding enough workers to meet their needs.


The Washington Post
Where are the workers?
The Labor Department released some good news Tuesday: The number of job openings is exploding. We now have close to the highest number of vacancies on record.


Forbes
Building boom towns: The metro areas with the most new construction
Last year’s great oil price crash hit Texas hard–and the construction industry felt the effect. Greater Houston, America’s oil capital, weathered a 49% drop in construction starts as new activity in manufacturing plunged 97% from the year before. But 240 miles north, construction was on the rise in Dallas.


MarketWatch
5 most profitable housing markets in America
Counties where 2015 home sellers made a 49% or better return on investment


The Wall Street Journal
Home-price growth sped up last year, Realtors say
Home-price growth accelerated late last year, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors, as a lack of supply continues to drive up prices despite cooling demand.


MarketWatch
Mortgage rates hit 10-month low
Mortgage rates swooned again, touching the lowest since April 2015, mortgage provider Freddie Mac said Thursday.


CNNMoney
There are a lot of empty homes in Flint, Michigan
Nationwide, the average vacancy rate is 1.6%, according a report from RealtyTrac. But in Flint, the rate is nearly five times higher at 7.5%.


CNBC
Under one roof: Multigenerational housing big for builders
Jennifer Michaels didn't expect her Seattle-area house would sell so quickly, especially since she hadn't settled on a new home yet. With nowhere to go, the divorced mom moved herself and her two teenagers in with her mother, Lucy Abbott, thinking it would be temporary. Much to all of their surprise, they didn't hate it
.

 

MORTGAGE NEWS

 


American Banker
Why the 20-year mortgage is the answer to housing finance mess
A recent Associated Press poll found more than six in 10 respondents expressed only slight confidence — or none at all — in the ability of the federal government to make progress on important issues facing the country. (Subscription may be required.)


The Wall Street Journal
Quicken Loans Super Bowl ad: No, this isn’t housing apocalypse 2.0
Quicken Loans’s Super Bowl ad has sparked rumblings over whether we should worry about a new housing bubble.

 

PRODUCT NEWS

 


MP Global
Controlling Sound Between Floors
When addressing sound abatement for multi-family housing, products that enable buffering noise will make the building owners, building management, and tenants all a lot happier.

 

SUSTAINABILITY & GREEN BUILDING

 

Los Angeles Times
How and when to install a rooftop solar system
California regulators have set new rules for compensating rooftop solar owners, so now what? Do you buy a solar system now or later? Is a lease better than purchasing? How about a loan?