Data

The U.S. Census Bureau and HUD jointly announced today in a press release new residential construction statistics for June 2015 finding single-family building permits rose slightly, while housing starts and housing completions both declined.

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in July reached new heights not seen since November 2005. According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Thursday, builder confidence hit a level of 60 in July, while the June reading was upwardly revised one point to 60.

As home prices continue to increase and the market picks up momentum, more properties are being sold at a discounted price. In a recent blog from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), author Scholastica Cororaton, a research economist at NAR found that 63 percent of properties sold at a discount compared to the listing price in May 2015, according to the May 2015 Realtors Confidence Index Survey.

Investors bidding on properties online and at live events nationwide appear to prefer flipping these purchased properties more than renting them. Auction.com recently revealed the findings from its second quarter 2015 Real Estate Investor Activity Report, a nationwide survey of real estate investors.

More millennials are valuing homeownership these days and trying harder to gather the funds to buy a home of their own, as a recent survey conducted by Washington, D.C.-based business advisory firm the Collingwood Group indicated. The survey, released Tuesday, showed that 65 percent of people polled between the ages of 24 and 34 were willing to forego modern conveniences in order to save for a down payment to purchase a home.

The issuance of new U.S. prime jumbo residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) is set to exceed last year’s levels thanks to a strong second quarter of RMBS issuance, according to Fitch Ratings’ quarterly U.S. Prime Jumbo RMBS Trends report. The Fitch report notes that eight jumbo RMBS deals came to market in second-quarter 2015 from six issuers.

Consumer expectations for the housing market are showing a slightly more positive outlook for the U.S. economy, according to The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data June 2015 Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) released on Monday.

Rick Sharga, EVP of Auction.com, discusses the June housing data and its impact on the overall market in a recent video released by the company. In the video, Sharga talks about the positive results seen in existing home sales, new home sales, and home price data. He questions whether this means the housing market is fully recovered and concludes that the market has not completely recovered and is still improving from previous years.

Like-kind exchanges in the real estate market are an important factor for property acquisition and disposal, and they also support the nation's financial growth, job creation, and economy, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The conflicts of student loan debt surpass just actual repayment. Trulia research titled "The Debt of Wrath: Do Student Loans Affect Saving for a Home?" recently found that college degrees hinder young millennials from saving up for a 20 percent down payment on a home due to student loan repayment, but in the most expensive markets, only those with a college degree will be capable of saving up enough for a home in their lifetime.