Real Estate
Housing market coverage, home buying and selling, mortgages, rentals, and property investment. From market trends to the practical decisions involved in owning or renting.
Latest in Real Estate
San Francisco rents are rising faster than any major metro at 6.3% a year, while Austin’s keep falling, down 5.1%
Renters in San Francisco now face the fastest-rising apartment costs of any large U.S. metro, with asking rents up 6.3 percent year over year. Austin,...
Asking rents rose for a fourth straight month as summer moving season began
Renters searching for apartments this summer face rising sticker prices for the fourth consecutive month. Asking rents across U.S. multifamily properties climbed again in May...
The FTC is mailing refund checks to 444,131 renters who paid Invitation Homes hidden fees, and each check expires 90 days after it arrives
More than 444,131 renters who paid hidden charges to the nation’s largest single-family rental company are now receiving refund checks from the Federal Trade Commission....
Seattle home prices fell 2.5% in a year, the biggest drop of any major U.S. metro, with listings up 39%
Seattle homebuyers gained ground this spring as the city recorded a 2.5 percent year-over-year decline in home prices, the steepest drop among major U.S. metros,...
Once you owe less than 80% of your home’s value, you can demand your lender cancel private mortgage insurance
Millions of homeowners with conventional mortgages are paying a monthly surcharge they have a legal right to eliminate. Under federal law, borrowers whose loan balance...
Housing inventory keeps rising, yet homes are selling faster than a year ago
Homebuyers signed contracts on more properties this spring than at any point in the past year, even as the number of homes available for sale...
More homes are for sale than before the pandemic in 15 states
Homebuyers in fifteen states now have more properties to choose from than they did before the pandemic upended the housing market, a shift driven largely...
The typical U.S. apartment now rents for $1,379, down 1.5% in a year
Renters across the United States are paying slightly less than they did a year ago, with the national median apartment rent sitting at $1,379 per...
National home prices are up just 0.4% in a year, with declines spreading across the South
Homeowners and prospective buyers across the Sun Belt are facing a new reality: national single-family home prices grew just 0.4% year-over-year in April 2026, and...
San Francisco home prices rose 8.1% in three months while metro New York fell 2.3%
San Francisco metro home prices surged 8.1 percent over three months, the sharpest quarterly gain in eight years, while metro New York prices dropped 2.3...
Cash-out refinances just hit a 14-year high — homeowners are trading sub-3% mortgages for 6.51% to pay off credit cards, often adding $900 a month to the payment
Somewhere in America, a homeowner who locked in a 2.75 percent mortgage during the pandemic is sitting at a kitchen table, staring at $25,000 in...
Adjustable-rate mortgages locked in at sub-3% during 2021 are resetting this year — the average reset adds about $700 to the monthly payment
The first wave of payment shock is arriving. Homeowners who signed 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages in 2021, when introductory rates dipped below 3 percent, are now...
Existing-home sales nudged up in April while inventory rose 5.8% — meaning buyers can now demand a seller cover up to 6% of closing costs on a conventional loan
The spring housing market was supposed to wake up. Instead, it barely stirred. Existing-home sales rose just 0.2% in April 2026 to a seasonally adjusted...
HUD-approved housing counselors review your full mortgage situation for free — homeowners who use one avoid foreclosure at roughly twice the rate of those who go it alone
The letter from the servicer usually arrives about 45 days after a missed mortgage payment. It’s polite, bureaucratic, and easy to set aside. Then a...
Conventional-loan buyers can ask sellers to cover up to 6% of closing costs — a routine concession nearly half of 2026 buyers are negotiating into the contract
When Marcus and Tia Reynolds found a four-bedroom listing in suburban Charlotte priced at $385,000, their agent suggested something that would have been laughed off...
A reverse mortgage lets a 62-year-old homeowner tap home equity tax-free — but new HUD rules require both spouses on the loan, or the survivor can be evicted
After 34 years in the same house, a 74-year-old widow in a complaint filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau described learning, only after her...
First-time buyers can claim up to $2,000 a year in federal tax credits for life through a Mortgage Credit Certificate — yet fewer than 30,000 borrowers used one in 2025
Consider a hypothetical first-time buyer who closes on a $280,000 mortgage in Texas. At the closing table, her loan officer hands her a document that...
A low home appraisal can sink your sale or refinance — but lenders must now offer a “reconsideration of value,” and solid comps often raise the number
A seller signs a contract at $425,000, then the appraisal comes back at $400,000. The buyer’s lender will only finance based on the lower figure,...
If your mortgage escrow collected more than it needed, the servicer owes you the surplus back — check your annual statement for a refund you may have missed
Every month, a slice of your mortgage payment disappears into an escrow account your servicer controls. That money is earmarked for property taxes and homeowners...
You don’t have to use the title company your lender picks — shopping your own title insurance and closing services can cut hundreds off the bill
Picture this: you are three weeks from closing on a $400,000 house, buried in paperwork, and your lender emails you the name of a title...