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A response to the affordable housing crisis should include a focus on bringing existing homes up to adequate standards, analysts from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies say.

RentCafe has examined the top U.S. cities that renters with families are settling down in, and of the estimated 68 million Americans raising children while renting, the South overwhelmingly provided them with the best options.

An analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data has found that the average square footage of a house in America is at its lowest point since 2010. 

The Black Knight Home Price Index hit another all-time high in July, with the annual rate of growth jumping to +2.3% from a revised +0.9% in June

After the fixed-rate mortgage hit levels recorded 21 years ago, Freddie Mac reported a five-basis point week-over-week slip in rates, and despite continued high rates, the nation’s short supply is keeping house prices steady.

A new mortgage report from ATTOM revealed U.S. lenders issued approximately $494 billion worth of residential mortgages in Q2 of 2023, while total activity rose after eight straight quarterly declines to 21%.

Direct mortgage lender adds former Chief of Retail Production at Guaranteed Rate to serve as its new Chief Production Officer.

“When remote work is coupled with the reported rise in the importance of affordability, it's not surprising that respondents expressed a greater willingness to live farther from their current location,” noted a Fannie Mae report. “Of course, renters indicated the greatest affordability concerns, as well as a willingness to consider areas farther away from their current location.”

Despite fixed-rate mortgages moving upward to levels last recorded in December 2000, the MBA reports both purchase and refi apps rose week-over-week, the first such increase in over a month.

“When factoring in the median value of a finished lot, the cost of manufactured housing relative to site-built falls to 54% for single-section homes, 70% for double-section, and 80% for CrossMods. As such, we suggest that manufactured housing may be most attractive in markets with lower land costs, but still offers savings regardless of land cost,” said Chadwick Reed of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.