In the first quarter of 2024, home prices increased in 93% of U.S. metro areas, with significant growth observed in 30% of these markets. The national median price for single-family homes rose to $389,400, marking a 5% year-over-year increase. The South led in sales volume, while the Northeast saw the highest price appreciation. Despite high mortgage rates, market conditions improved slightly for buyers due to a marginal decline in required mortgage payments compared to the previous quarter.

After Kathy Hochul's failed New York Housing Compact plan last year, New York State is trying again to tackle its severe housing crisis. According to anonymous sources close to the deal, New York state leaders have reportedly reached a tentative agreement on a legislative plan to tackle the crisis and will be presented to the full Senate and Assembly on Monday. The framework of the deal offers incentives for both developers and tenants. Developers would receive significant tax breaks to develop more affordable units, while tenants would benefit from enhanced protections against eviction in certain cases. Additionally, the agreement would allow landlords of rent-stabilized apartments to raise rents for renovation costs and eliminate size restrictions on new Manhattan apartment buildings, fulfilling long-standing desires of city officials.

The housing market for buyers in California is becoming increasingly challenging. Prices are soaring while the inventory remains limited. Statistics reveal a stark reality: home prices have surged 9.7% over the past year, with the median home price now at $813,980. Meanwhile, inventory levels have plummeted by 48.3%, exacerbating the affordability crisis. Despite historically low mortgage rates, competition remains fierce, leading to bidding wars and further price escalation. Experts suggest that while the market may stabilize in the long term, immediate relief for buyers appears unlikely.

Currently, the average rate for a 30-year mortgage stands at around 6.9%, a significant decrease from late October when it peaked at nearly 8%. Despite expectations of rates declining later in the year, some buyers are opting to act now due to fears of increased competition. The combination of high mortgage rates and soaring home prices has made affordability a major concern, with many households earning less than what's needed to afford a median-priced home. While economists anticipate mortgage rates easing, uncertainty remains.

There are ongoing bipartisan efforts at various levels of government to address housing supply and pricing challenges in the United States. The importance of local action in addressing these issues, particularly through measures such as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), changes in zoning rules, and reduction of lot sizes, is increasingly becoming evident. Despite political differences, lawmakers in some states are collaborating on bipartisan housing legislation. However, challenges such as NIMBYism hinder progress at the local level, prompting calls for state-level intervention to overcome resistance to housing reforms. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass took office in 2022 and since then, has been making a big push to address homelessness, particularly in Venice Beach. Mayor Bass initiated the Inside Safe program to provide motel rooms for homeless residents, resulting in cleaner sidewalks and parks in Venice Beach. However, challenges persist, including budgetary constraints and the need for permanent housing solutions. Critics accuse Bass of prioritizing aesthetics over long-term solutions, while supporters applaud her urgency in tackling the crisis. Despite progress, concerns remain about the sustainability and effectiveness of current efforts, highlighting the complex nature of addressing homelessness in Los Angeles.

In the first quarter of 2024, home prices increased in 93% of U.S. metro areas, with significant growth observed in 30% of these markets. The national median price for single-family homes rose to $389,400, marking a 5% year-over-year increase. The South led in sales volume, while the Northeast saw the highest price appreciation. Despite high mortgage rates, market conditions improved slightly for buyers due to a marginal decline in required mortgage payments compared to the previous quarter.

After Kathy Hochul's failed New York Housing Compact plan last year, New York State is trying again to tackle its severe housing crisis. According to anonymous sources close to the deal, New York state leaders have reportedly reached a tentative agreement on a legislative plan to tackle the crisis and will be presented to the full Senate and Assembly on Monday. The framework of the deal offers incentives for both developers and tenants. Developers would receive significant tax breaks to develop more affordable units, while tenants would benefit from enhanced protections against eviction in certain cases. Additionally, the agreement would allow landlords of rent-stabilized apartments to raise rents for renovation costs and eliminate size restrictions on new Manhattan apartment buildings, fulfilling long-standing desires of city officials.

The housing market for buyers in California is becoming increasingly challenging. Prices are soaring while the inventory remains limited. Statistics reveal a stark reality: home prices have surged 9.7% over the past year, with the median home price now at $813,980. Meanwhile, inventory levels have plummeted by 48.3%, exacerbating the affordability crisis. Despite historically low mortgage rates, competition remains fierce, leading to bidding wars and further price escalation. Experts suggest that while the market may stabilize in the long term, immediate relief for buyers appears unlikely.

Currently, the average rate for a 30-year mortgage stands at around 6.9%, a significant decrease from late October when it peaked at nearly 8%. Despite expectations of rates declining later in the year, some buyers are opting to act now due to fears of increased competition. The combination of high mortgage rates and soaring home prices has made affordability a major concern, with many households earning less than what's needed to afford a median-priced home. While economists anticipate mortgage rates easing, uncertainty remains.

There are ongoing bipartisan efforts at various levels of government to address housing supply and pricing challenges in the United States. The importance of local action in addressing these issues, particularly through measures such as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), changes in zoning rules, and reduction of lot sizes, is increasingly becoming evident. Despite political differences, lawmakers in some states are collaborating on bipartisan housing legislation. However, challenges such as NIMBYism hinder progress at the local level, prompting calls for state-level intervention to overcome resistance to housing reforms. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass took office in 2022 and since then, has been making a big push to address homelessness, particularly in Venice Beach. Mayor Bass initiated the Inside Safe program to provide motel rooms for homeless residents, resulting in cleaner sidewalks and parks in Venice Beach. However, challenges persist, including budgetary constraints and the need for permanent housing solutions. Critics accuse Bass of prioritizing aesthetics over long-term solutions, while supporters applaud her urgency in tackling the crisis. Despite progress, concerns remain about the sustainability and effectiveness of current efforts, highlighting the complex nature of addressing homelessness in Los Angeles.

Although Texas builds more homes than any other state, it’s not building enough to keep up with its massive population and economic growth, leading to historically high housing costs, according to housing advocates, builders and real estate experts. By some estimates, the state is short hundreds of thousands of homes.A sweeping agenda to slow Texas’ substantial rise in housing costs by reining in local regulations that opponents say get in the way of building new homes has died quietly in the Texas Legislature.

As rents skyrocketed in the aftermath of the pandemic and have continued squeezing Nevadans in the last year, local officials on numerous occasions stressed state law restricted them from taking action to address the housing crisis. Now given a chance to weigh in on legislation that would clarify their authority, local governments have been mostly silent on the matter.

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Image credits - iStockPhoto

"Florida Senate Bill 102 is among the most impactful legislation to stimulate the new construction of affordable housing that’s taken effect in Florida. The bill increases funding availability and provides important incentives to make affordable housing more feasible. However, Senate Bill 102 alone is not a silver bullet. Without increased engagement from local governments and increased local and federal affordable housing subsidies, communities will continue to experience an affordable housing supply that is far below the increasing need." – Jake Morrow, Principal, Interurban.

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Integra Investments and Centennial Bank executives discuss this major legislation, as well as their efforts to ease Miami's housing crisis.

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Image: Program logo from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. website

Many in New York hoped that the final version of the state’s $229 billion budget would include provisions to prevent cities and towns from limiting themselves exclusively to the construction of single-family homes. However, the Governor's Housing Compact plan was abandoned when it proved too controversial to keep budget negotiations with the Legislature moving along. Read about what this missed opportunity could cost the state.

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Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash

Arizona is short more than 200,000 homes to match demand and lawmakers proposed to fix that by changing local zoning regulations to make building easier, a strategy that has drawn heated opposition from cities across the state.

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Image credits - Unsplash

Developers are analyzing how to take advantage of Florida’s new legislation, which will set aside over $700 million in funding, create tax breaks, and provide zoning-related incentives for affordable and workforce housing developments. 

The law could contribute to a new boom in housing development, from entirely affordable buildings to mixed-income towers on commercial sites that developers are now looking to purchase, experts say. The Live Local Act, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last week, aims to help fill financing gaps, making more developments economically feasible. What is still crucial, attorneys and developers said, is combining that with incentives on the local level. he new legislation sets aside $259 million in SAIL (State Apartment Incentive Loan) funds. It also promises $252 million in SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Program) funding to incentivize local governments to partner with developers preserving or building new housing. The law goes into effect July 1. Developers are expected to apply for incentives this summer, and receive funds next year. If developers don’t have to pay property taxes (beginning in 2024), they can count on a project generating more net operating income, which means they can borrow more debt. Ultimately, that means they could develop more units, experts said. The huge increase in construction costs — including the price of land, debt, labor and materials — and insurance have contributed to the lack of affordable housing.

The Live Local Act aims to remedy some of that. It will put $100 million in non-recurring funds into a competitive loan program that developers could tap to cover inflation-related cost increases for Florida Housing and Finance Corporation-approved multifamily developments that haven’t broken ground yet.

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Image: Brian Sidman, Keith Poliakoff, J.C. De Ona and Jake Morrow (Source: Getty)

In a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 34% of real estate agents' clients who were yet to secure a home, reported that scarcity of affordable properties in the market was their primary obstacle to homeownership. An additional 18% stated that their customers were biding their time for a decrease in interest rates.

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Insufficient availability of affordable homes, especially in larger metropolitan areas, alongside historically high interest rates have emerged as the predominant factors deterring potential homebuyers in the United States. Interestingly, prospective Black, Hispanic, and Asian buyers primarily pointed to home prices themselves as the key deterrent, while white buyers were equally as concerned by mortgage rates.

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As per the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average contract rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage escalated to 7.27% during the week ending September 8, nearly reaching the highest rate observed in over two decades, as seen last month.

Retail giant Amazon announced on Wednesday the launch of a new pilot program designed to assist moderate-income families in three different U.S. communities with the purchase of up to 800 homes, in partnership with the National Housing Trust (NHT).

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The initiative will include $40 million to assist residents in the Puget Sound, Washington, Arlington, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee communities, the company said. Amazon says the investment will “help moderate-income residents in these communities to purchase homes as a path to help build generational wealth.”

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The nonprofit NHT will use the funds from Amazon’s program to acquire and build affordable homes for sale in partnership with a network of local organizations - Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties serving the Puget Sound region; the African Community Housing & Development (ACHD) and Homestead Community Land Trust both serving King County, Wash., the Douglass Community Land Trust in Washington, D.C. and The Housing Fund serving Nashville.

Property insurance rates continue to soar as insurers aim to mitigate massive losses amid the increasing number of devastating climate change-related disasters. Coastal states like Florida and California are bearing the brunt of the rising insurance costs as wildfires, hurricanes, and storms go on the rise, and fears of earthquake damage remain ever-present. Some insurers have ceased offering property insurance coverage in certain markets altogether, including Allstate, which stopped accepting new applications in California in late 2022, and State Farm, which did the same in 2023.

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Progressive and Nationwide revealed earlier this year that they would no longer provide commercial property coverage for new customers in Florida.

Raising asking rents for apartment units is one avenue some multifamily property owners could pursue to mitigate the high cost of property insurance.

In a recent update from property data provider CoreLogic, it's revealed that U.S. single-family rents recorded a 3.3% year-over-year increase in June, marking the smallest rise since autumn 2020. 

The CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), which tracks rent changes nationally and in major metro areas, reported a shift in June. Rent growth for attached homes exceeded that of detached properties, a dynamic unseen in recent years. Year-over-year, attached homes saw a 4% increase in rent, outpacing the 2.6% growth for detached homes.

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The demand for affordable housing drove a rapid increase in lower-cost rentals. Homes priced at 75% of the regional median witnessed a substantial 4.9% year-over-year uptick in June. In contrast, rentals priced at 125% or more of the median experienced a milder 2.3% increase. Chicago led with the highest year-over-year rise in single-family rents for June 2023 at 6.6%, trailed by Boston at 5.9%, and Orlando at 5.5%. However, Las Vegas experienced an annual decline in rent prices, dropping by -1.2%.

For decades, Montgomery County has led the country in affordable housing innovations, including a landmark law that requires developers to set aside about 15 percent of the units in new projects for households making less than two-thirds of the area’s median income, which is now $152,100 for a family of four. 

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The government agency in the area, the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, has a stake in the new developments in the county. As a result, new projects are combining private and public subsidies and putting a modern spin on the concept of public housing. 

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The Laureate, a newly developed swanky residence that sits outside Washington, D.C., is the first building financed with a new $100 million fund that Montgomery County created to speed development by having H.O.C. invest directly in new projects, then using its ownership position to become a kind of benevolent investor that trades profits for lower rents.

Gov. Kotek’s first promise upon taking office is to build 36,000 new homes annually to overcome our housing backlog and bring down costs of housing statewide. While the homebuilding industry adamantly supports this goal, we know that everyone will need to do their part to bring down the high costs of housing and rent that are impacting families across this state.