Buyers snatched up houses as investment properties and second homes at an especially fast clip last year. The number of homes purchased for investment purposes rose a whopping 65% in 2011, from 749,000 to 1.23 million …
Real Estate Markets
Full Real Estate Recovery Not Coming Until 2015
First, the good news: The real estate market has clawed its way back from the brink and is about a third of the way to a normal, pre-bubble market. The bad news: It’s going to take until the end of 2015 to get us the rest of the …
Housing Prices Fall to 2003 Levels, But Demand May Be Building
It’s now officially a lost decade for home prices. With the release of the January data for the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes, prices in a national composite dropped 3.8% from a year before, rolling back to …
A Real Recovery? 6 Unconventional Economic Indicators Say Yes
An Early Spring for Housing, Too?
Housing Math: Buying Is Now Cheaper Than Renting 98% of the Time
As the cost of renting rises and home values keep dropping, it gets easier and easier to figure out whether it’s smarter to buy or rent. A new study indicates that in 98 out of 100 U.S. housing markets, buying is the more …
You’ll Never Guess the New Big Thing in Housing (Think: Not Big)
The next big thing in residential real estate isn’t big at all. It’s small. Because of cost and aesthetic considerations, a strong “anti-McMansion attitude” has surfaced among home designers and buyers, according to one of the …
Being 30 and Living With Your Parents Isn’t Lame — It’s Awesome
Just how much of a bummer is it to be well past the age of adulthood and still living under your parent’s roof? As this living arrangement grows increasingly common, the perception is that it’s not so bad after all. In fact, …
Could Your Property Taxes Actually Be Getting Cheaper?
Property taxes are based on the value of one’s home. But as the real estate market collapsed and owners watched in horror as home values dropped by one-third, or perhaps half, their property taxes probably didn’t budge. Through …
Move Out of Your Parents’ House and Save the Economy
Whatever happened to wanderlust? Over the years, Americans in their 20s have grown less and less likely to move away from their home states. During the recession era, young adults have becoming increasingly unlikely to leave even …
Imagine No Electricity Bills: The Rise of ‘Net-Zero’ Homes
If done properly, a smartly built green home featuring solar power, energy-efficient appliances, and proper insulation can result in the owner facing monthly electricity bills amounting to $0, or thereabouts. Now, one homebuilder …
How You Can Fix the Housing Crisis—At Least in Your Own Home
You could wait for the government to fix the housing crisis, or you could simply wait for the housing market to rebound. In either case, though, you might be waiting a long time for anything to happen. Instead of just hoping for …