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Burned by the hot housing market, some buyers back off
The first house was in Midvale, Utah — a three-bedroom, just over 2,100 square feet, listed for $479,000. Rob Ettaro and his girlfriend, Kaliana Veros, who had moved from western New York to Salt Lake City, drawn by career opportunities and the stunning scenery of the Wasatch Range, decided to make an offer. This was back in the wintertime, when the young couple had a modest wish list that included room for family to visit. Their hearts still raced at the idea of being homeowners. Ettaro and Veros offered $6,000 over the asking price. The house sold for $60,000 over. Wised up, on the next house they offered $60,000 over…
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Housing boom is over as new home sales fall to pandemic low
Sales of newly built homes dropped in June to the lowest level since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday. Sales of new single family homes fell to an annualized rate of 676,000, 6.6% below May’s rate of 724,000 and 19.4% below the June 2020 level of 839,000. Analysts were expecting new home sales to increase by 3.4% in June. After a year of frenzied buying and price gains in the double digits, newly built homes are now out of reach for much of the demand that remains in the market. The median price of a…
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How did the housing market turn white-hot? It wasn’t just the pandemic
Even in the robust pre-pandemic economy, housing experts say there was trouble brewing that presaged the current boom in housing prices, with lower-income and first-time homebuyers in particular facing rising hurdles to homeownership. “One of the most prominent housing issues in pre-pandemic America was supply shortages,” said Matthew Murphy, executive director of the Furman Center For Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University. “That has carried over and exacerbated, but we already had evidence of supply shortages heading into the pandemic.” Today’s housing situation has its roots in the last boom-bust cycle, Murphy said: “The context here to this current housing moment is that we were still recovering…
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In Cleveland, Better Housing Is Climate Justice : NPR
J.R. Cassidy, from the company Weatherization Rx, installs energy-saving upgrades in Flora Dillard’s house in Cleveland. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption toggle caption Ryan Kellman/NPR Workmen have invaded Flora Dillard’s house on the east side of Cleveland. There’s plastic over everything and no place to sit, but Dillard doesn’t seem to mind. “A couple of days of inconvenience is nothing, compared to the results that you get,” she says. She’ll benefit, and so might the climate. The workers have plugged cracks around the foundation and rerouted an air vent to reduce the risk that mold will form. They’re insulating the drafty upstairs bedroom, which was so cold that Dillard had resorted…
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Denver’s housing market cooling down a bit
Over the past few weeks, realtors have noticed the number of showings and offers go down. DENVER — There’s finally some relief for buyers in Denver’s competitive housing market. Realtors said they began to see a drop in showings a few weeks ago, which means people will have less competition when they make an offer. “Is this a sign of a big change? Is this a sign the market is changing? Are we cooling off?,” said Lane Lyon, a managing broker at Coldwell Banker Realty. Real estate in Denver is still super hot but not as intense as it has been over the past year. “We are seeing buyers that…
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The housing market is so crazy, this $600,000 ‘horror’ is drawing multiple cash offers
This Realtor is keeping it real. Maybe too real. While many listings that describe homes for sale are notorious for spinning cramped, dark spaces as “cozy,” or glossing over other inconvenient truths about a property, a Colorado Springs agent didn’t pull any punches in her roughly $600,000 listing for a “formerly majestic” five-bedroom home that is now “every landlord’s nightmare.” It’s covered in obscenity-laced graffiti, and smells like “there’s a dead body in there,” Mimi Foster, a real-estate agent with Falcon Property Company in Colorado, tells MarketWatch. Yet her frank listing that describes the damage done to this home in gruesome detail has gone viral since she posted it three…
