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Author Archives: Demetria Lester

Demetria C. Lester is a reporter for DS News and MReport magazines with more than eight years of writing experience. She has served as content coordinator and copy editor for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Orange County Register, in addition to 11 other Southern California publications. A former editor-in-chief at Northlake College and staff writer at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington, she has covered events such as the Byron Nelson and Pac-12 Conferences, progressing into her freelance work with the Dallas Wings and D Magazine. Currently located in Dallas, Texas, Lester is an avid jazz lover and likes to read. She can be reached at [email protected].

Affordability Challenges Hindering Prospective Homebuyers

Two new studies from the National Association of Realtors show that elevated home prices and limited housing supply are continuous homebuying barriers cited across different races and ethnicities, hampering home sales and affecting prospective buyers nationwide.

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Mortgage Applications Reach Lowest Level in Nearly Three Decades

“Mortgage applications decreased for the seventh time in eight weeks, reaching the lowest level since 1996,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s VP and Deputy Chief Economist. “Last week’s decline was driven by a 5% drop in refinance applications, to the weakest reading since January 2023.”

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1 in 3 Sellers Are Relocating for More Spacious Homes

According to a new Redfin survey, the most common reason home sellers are relocating is the desire for more space, followed by proximity to family and a lower cost of living. Click here to see why sellers are choosing to move despite record-high mortgage rates and an increasing lack of inventory.

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Nationwide Construction Boom Expected to Remain High Until 2025

While millions of units are expected to be developed in the coming years, developers are expected to open 460,860 rentals by the end of December. However, a new RentCafe study revealed even that may not be enough to keep up the pace with surging nationwide rental demand as more and more Americans opt for renting over buying.

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Mortgage Credit Availability Rebounds

The MBA's Mortgage Credit Availability Index revealed that August's share of mortgage credit availability was on the upswing after a decrease in July, which resulted in the lowest level of credit availability recorded since 2013.

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Renting vs. Buying: Examining the Cost of Homeownership

Potential first-time homebuyers looking to shift from renting to homeownership in 2023 are facing mortgage rates that are nearly 4 percentage points higher than the low point in Q4 2020, limiting their purchasing power. In a new analysis, First American Economist Ksenia Potapov revealed the costs of renting against the costs of owning a home.

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Housing Premiums, Home Prices Tick Up From July

Housing premiums have risen in seven of the top 10 hottest housing markets in the country amid concerns that the real estate market is taking off again after years of record price growth, according to July data from the Florida Atlantic University's Top 100 U.S. Housing Markets report.

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