Millennials are helping to strengthen the home market

Mar 30, 2017
Sales jumped more than 5 percent last month.
Everything from worker shortage to material prices have forced builders to adapt.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The real estate industry smells big money in marijuana

Jan 10, 2017
Right now could be a very good time to own a big commercial space in California. Why? Marijuana.
An employee with medicinal marijuana plants in the flowering room at Tweed INC. in Smith Falls, Ontario, on December 5, 2016. 

 
LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images

Will increase in home sales continue into 2017?

Dec 21, 2016
Rising mortgage rates may have pushed some buyers last month to close home deals but economists don't expect that to be a big thing in 2017
An Open House sign directs prospective buyers to property for sale in Monterey Park, California.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Too few houses on the market help force prices up

Dec 21, 2016
The higher prices are an obstacle to people hoping to move up, keeping them from putting their houses up for sale.
PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Slowly rising rates shouldn’t hurt housing market

Dec 16, 2016
New data out this week show the average 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.16 percent. That’s a 2016 high, and is set to keep rising with the Fed promising more interest rate hikes. That means home buying is getting more expensive just ahead of the important spring selling season. But the economy is strengthening overall, which […]
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

The Secret Service is Fifth Avenue's hottest new amenity

Dec 6, 2016
Buy a $1.2 million condo, share the elevator with federal agents.
New York Police Department officers change shifts at Trump Tower in New York City on December 2, 2016. 

 
DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images

Bay Area fire highlights region's housing issues

Dec 5, 2016
Thirty-six people have died in a warehouse fire in Oakland. Authorities say the death toll could rise significantly.
A fireman walks by the fire-ravaged warehouse in Oakland where at least 36 people have died.
NICK OTTO/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Churches convert to rentals as young people leave the flock

Oct 11, 2016
Houses of worship are merging or closing. In Philly, more than a quarter of those have been redeveloped.
Philadelphia’s former St. Anthony of Padua Church (left) has been converted into upscale lofts, and apartments are planned for St. Laurentius' site, also in Philadelphia.
Courtesy of Bobby Allyn

In Detroit, a risky alternative to mortgages

Oct 6, 2016
With lending unavailable, home buyers have turned to an option with few protections.
A house that's for sale on a land contract in Detroit. It's common for a house to need a gut rehab.
Lewis Wallace/Marketplace

When your landlord is on the other side of the world

Oct 5, 2016
In Detroit, international investors buy low-cost homes, then rent them to locals.
Houses line a Detroit street. In the city, the median price for an existing home is below $40,000.
JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images