After weathering a tough 2014 marred by a sluggish housing market, lenders see a brighter picture ahead in 2015, with many industry observers describing themselves as cautiously optimistic about the coming year.
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Like a flustered EMT with a comatose patient, federal officials are desperately prodding the housing market to try to revive the sluggish purchase side, but it’s not clear how much their efforts can do to turn it around, local lenders and experts say.
The state’s community development corporations are rushing to find more banking and corporate partners to take advantage of a new tax credit program launched this year.
MLS Pin has launched a real estate search site which allows members of the general public to search for homes directly.
With gloomy December skies hovering above us, it may be hard to believe, but solar power is taking off in the Bay State. But while it’s clear that the panels can help trim your electricity bill, how much they may add to a home’s value is still up in the air.
As a former BU Terrier hockey player, DiMella certainly knows the virtues of hustle – a quality he brings to his real estate career. Just a few years out of college, he and a partner launched their own firm, Charlesgate Realty Group, carving a place for themselves in the competitive Back Bay market. He’s now bringing his youthful energy to a 2014 term as one of the youngest presidents of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.
On a day when many affordable housing advocates were celebrating, retired U.S. Rep. Barney Frank came to them with a stern word of warning, as well as some encouragement.
Sales of homes over $1 million are outpacing the rest of the housing market across the country, according to a new report from broker Redfin, with Boston ranking ninth among all U.S. cities for luxury sales.
Cash sales are dying down in most sectors of the housing market – except among condominium purchasers, who are still using cash at elevated rates more than four years after the housing crash, a fresh look at data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reveals.
After surging to over 50 percent of condo purchases and more than a fifth of single-family sales at their peak, cash purchases have fallen to levels closer to pre-housing crash norms in recent months among single- and multifamily purchasers.
A quick glance at the top line numbers might suggest a steady-as-she-goes sort of real estate market in Massachusetts this year – but beneath the surface, there’s more than meets the eye. New data from Zillow shows that there’s a real split in the market when it comes to inventory, with high-end buyers finding plenty to their liking, while entry-level buyers are still in the midst of a supply choke.
Always drawn to a career in the nonprofit world, Danielle Samalin’s interest turned from international to domestic development work as she was drawn in to the problem of supplying affordable housing – something that hit the New York City native very close to home.
William Raveis Real Estate, the largest family-owned brokerage in Connecticut, which operates branches in Massachusetts, has launched a new “RAVestimate” feature on its web site which provides estimated home values. It is the first major broker to offer an automated valuation feature to compete with Zillow’s “Zestimate,” and founder Bill Raveis says his brokerage’s offering easily outclasses the portals’.
Perhaps the biggest news to come out of a relatively sedate annual meeting of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) earlier this month was a push by the national trade group to help agents offer better options for consumers searching for a home on their websites.
Nick Patsio may not have grown up in the real estate business, but once he began, he certainly hit the ground running. He and his brother have built Century 21 Commonwealth into a $1.2 billion in sales, 400-plus agent behemoth since launching their own brokerage in 2006.
While there are considerable causes for optimism about the national and state economies—and the housing market—considerable long-term challenges remain, two economists told an audience of Realtors at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston today.
Three years into the beginning of the housing recovery, one particular sub-sector of the housing market is still lagging behind: new construction.
Last week’s release of September sales figures from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, might have prompted a few glum faces around the state’s brokerage offices – sales through the third quarter of 2014 have been sluggish, dropping 3.1 percent from the same period last year.
A former project manager and consultant, Kemeny founded Boston Residential Group in 2003, helping to build and manage residential developments in some of Boston’s most prominent locations, including the Navy Yard, Newbury Street and, most recently, a 48-unit loft-style development currently underway in the Fort Point neighborhood. A veteran of many a lengthy permitting battle, he spoke with Banker & Tradesman about what it will take for the city to achieve its ambitious housing development goals over the coming decade.
