Real Estate

Spring home buying season has kicked into high gear, but it wasn’t enough to boost mortgage applications, which fell by 1 percent last week from the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. That was largely due to a drop in refinancings, which slipped 3 percent. The refinance share of mortgage applications fell to its [...]

Commercial real estate had a banner year in 2015, and the fundamentals of high demand and low vacancies are still driving rents higher. There is, however, a catch that could cool the market quickly, at least when it comes to financing. Investors are insisting on high yield, and the bonds backing commercial mortgages are not [...]

Steven Bock thought he was a typical downsizing baby boomer. With his second child graduating from college, he and his wife felt it was time to put their 7,000 square foot, multimillion dollar, suburban Boston home on the market and head into the city to rent. What they found changed the plan entirely. “We were [...]

Prospective home buyers view a kitchen while touring a model home at the PulteGroup Inc. Mirehaven housing development in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Confidence among the nation’s home builders held steady in March, although a majority of analysts had expected it to improve slightly. Even lower mortgage rates since the start of the year don’t seem [...]

Higher interest rates pushed mortgage refinancing activity down further last week, and home buying isn’t picking up the slack. Total mortgage application volume fell 3.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It is nearly 21 percent higher than the same week one [...]

Wealthy Iranians, companies and state-backed buyers will spend up to £6 billion ($8.5 billion) on overseas real estate over the next five-to-10 years following the lifting of international sanctions, a report said on Wednesday. High-net-worth Iranians are likely to look to buy properties in London, Dubai, Switzerland, Germany or the south of France, London estate [...]

Spring has officially sprung, but the spring housing market started about a month ago, according to most real estate agents. With the supply of homes for sale not even close to demand, competition has been fierce, and that is changing the rules of the real estate road. Yes, it’s a seller’s market, but not all [...]

Anyone shopping for a home today has probably had at least one encounter with sticker shock. No matter the neighborhood, home prices are generally rising, and bidding wars are often the rule rather than the exception. That means fewer neighborhoods are now considered affordable — a lot fewer. Nine percent of the 456 U.S. counties [...]

Switzerland´s housing cycle appears to be peaking. Switzerland’s economic growth is weak, and the government is trying to cool the overheated property market – with success: Owner-occupied apartment prices were up by only 1.63% (2.98% inflation-adjusted) in 2015, far from the average growth of 5.4% from 2009 to 2012, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB). Single-family [...]

Marcus [Valance], Property Week’s photographer for our trip, climbs out of the car, pops the boot and begins assembling his equipment. My mobile trills. It’s Liz [Hamson], my editor, and she gets straight to the point: “There’s breaking news – I think you need to hear this.” After a couple of sentences, I gesture to [...]

Almost half of home owners in London intend to put any plans they have to buy or sell on hold under after the referendum in June on the future of the UK in the European Union. A survey has found that 47% will not get involved until after the vote and Bishop’s move, which commissioned [...]

Carol Anderson, Scotland branch and business banking distribution director at TSB Bank, has been appointed new chair of the Council of Mortgage Lenders in Scotland. She succeeds Linda Docherty, of Clydesdale Bank. Carol’s appointment coincides with CML Scotland’s annual lunch in Edinburgh where 200 members of the Scottish mortgage market listened to her first public [...]