The new version of tax reform bill was released on Friday, Dec 15th. In this 500 page bill, there are some changes that will have negative impacts on homeownership if it’s voted through by both Houses of Congress next week.
Limiting the mortgage interest deduction (MID) from – the current – $1 million to $750,000 on mortgages for the first or second home, will affect homeowners in high-tax states like California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois. Chief Economist, Nela Richardson, the lead of housing market research team on data reports at Redfin, published an article a few days ago and made some predictions for housing in 2018. According to her, if state and local tax (SALT) deductions are eliminated, people living in aforementioned states will consider moving to other states where they can get more for less money.
This might be a title that you have seen before but what makes this study differs from others is the factors used to make the list. In this study, Realtor.com® teamed up with Money magazine on their annual “Best Places to Live” list. They blend their data and insights into local housing markets to examine great places to raise a family with all aspects involved in it.
The analysis focused on smaller cities and towns, where population is between 10,000 and 100,000. Data points used to make the list, included realtor.com data on housing market costs and growth, economic health, cost of living, and public education. To read more in detail about this study and factors used and omitted click here.
Here is the list:
Fishers, IN
Allen, TX
Monterey Park, CA
Franklin, TN
Olive Branch, MS
Dickinson, ND
Lone Tree, CO
North Arlington, NJ
Schaumburg, IL
Bozeman, MT
Share your insights if you live in any of this cities.
How Fed Rate Hikes Will Affect Sales Of U.S. Homes To International Buyers
In a recent article by Forbes Magazine, Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of National Association of REALTORS states that The Federal Reserve’s steady round of rate hikes over the next two years will hold back foreign home buyers from Western Europe and Canada. He explains that the reason would be related to a stronger US dollar comparing to aforementioned regions. He added that one major exception to this trend is likely to be China.
According to him, the Fed raised its interest rate in December and is expected to do so throughout 2016 and 2017 due to the following factors: Continue reading First Post Of The Year!→
When it come to the quality of air, every body wants their city to rank number one in the list. Yuqing Pan at Realtor.com, with the aid of 2015 EPA data, came up with a list of the nation’s top 10 cities with the best and worst air quality based on the percentage of days with good air quality. This is the list of ten cleanest cities and their median prices:
By the end of September, Realtor.com published the 20 hottest market for housing and California with 11 regions on the list dominates the market. The following map focuses on these 11 regions. Here is the list:
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ (C.A.R.), released the 2016 California housing market forecast on Oct 8th. According to their forecast;
California’s housing market will continue to improve into 2016, but a shortage of homes on the market and a crimp in housing affordability also will persist.
Existing home sales will increase 6.3 percent next year to reach 433,000 units, up from the projected 2015 sales figure of 407,500 homes sold.
In regions where inventory is tight, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, sales growth could be limited by stiff market competition and diminishing housing affordability.
RealtyTrac®[1], released its Q2 2015 U.S. Residential Loan Origination Report on Aug 13 and here is a summary of their report:
the report shows that 1,950,267 loans were originated on single family homes and condos in the second quarter, up 22 percent from the previous quarter and up 23 percent from a year ago to the highest level since the third quarter of 2013.
The total dollar volume of loans originated in the second quarter was nearly $540 billion, up 14 percent from the previous quarter and up 29 percent from a year ago. Refinance originations represented nearly $307 billion in the second quarter, 56.7 percent of total loan origination dollar volume, and purchase loan originations represented nearly $234 billion, 43.3 percent of total origination dollar volume. As a share of total loan origination dollar volume, purchase originations reached a recent peak of 51.3 percent in the third quarter of 2014.
New closing rules are in effect as of today, October 3rd.
“Big changes are planned for how homebuyers finance their mortgages, and that almost certainly means that closings will take longer. In some cases, closings that now speed through in 30 days probably will require at least 60 days.
The changes had been expected to begin in August, but the effective date was pushed back to Oct. 3.
After the housing crash, Congress felt that we needed a better system of mortgage disclosures and procedures so that Americans can better protect themselves and make the best choices when getting home loans.”
The new version of tax reform bill was released on Friday, Dec 15th. In this 500 page bill, there are some changes that will have negative impacts on homeownership if it’s voted through by both Houses of Congress next week.
