Home foreclosure activity spiked in May, but it's not a crisis — at least, not yet

Jun 12, 2023
It may be down to layoffs. It may also be down to house-flippers.
Foreclosure activity in May was up 7% from April and 14% over a year ago, according to ​ATTOM Data Solutions.
John Moore/Getty Images

Biden plan to end homelessness is missing a crucial ingredient: more money

May 30, 2023
Getting an unhoused person into a home can cost $10,000 a year — and more than 580,000 people are unhoused on any given night.
Unhoused people are cleared from a park encampment two blocks from the White House in February.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Spike in new households adds to rent, home price increases

May 29, 2023
As of 2020, people living alone made up 27% of new households. That trend has been accelerating.
An apartment building in Manhattan, New York City, seeks renters. More Americans are forming their own households than in previous decades.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

There are now only 4 major U.S. cities where buying is cheaper than renting

May 25, 2023
That's good news if you're looking to buy in Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland or Houston, but what about the rest of us?
Even if monthly mortgage payments are higher than comparable rent, "you get the benefit of building up wealth," said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

New home construction ticked up in April, signaling a rise in demand

May 17, 2023
Most new homes are going up in the South and states like Utah and Nevada, where homes are generally more affordable than on the coasts.
New home construction has picked up in the Mountain West, where housing is generally more affordable than on the coasts.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Foreign home buyers become a central issue in Turkish presidential election

May 12, 2023
In the Turkish city of Antalya, an influx of foreign buyers have exacerbated existing housing affordability woes.
Turkey's main opposition  leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu speaks during a rally, Turkey. He has promised to restrict foreign homebuying if he wins the presidency.
Burak Kara/Getty Images

Millions of dilapidated houses sit vacant in the U.S. A Colorado college program aims to change that.

May 11, 2023
Construction students get blighted homes back on the market under the auspices of a community college program.
Jerry Begley, construction training program manager at Trinidad State College, points to the century-old earthen interior of a COPERR program project in the west end of town.
Dan Boyce

For public good, not for profit.

How interest-only mortgages can be risky for borrowers and lenders

May 2, 2023
These mortgages were key to the economic climate that led to the 2008 financial crisis. First Republic had a lot of them.
First Republic Bank had a lot of of interest-only loans, which can be risky for both borrowers and lenders.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Fueled by federal dollars, commercial construction is booming

May 1, 2023
The resilience of this usually interest rate-sensitive sector makes the Fed’s goal of taming inflation that much harder.
Federal dollars dedicated semiconductor chip manufacturing and battery production is helping lift construction worker wages.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Who's the "we" behind those "We Buy Houses" signs?

Apr 28, 2023
Real estate wholesalers offer convenience, but at what price?
"We Buy Houses" signs on a street corner in Baltimore. Often they're posted by real estate wholesalers.
Amy Scott/Marketplace