Real Estate

  Bloomberg Purchases of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly declined in March for a third month, reflecting the weakest pace of demand in the West since July 2014. Total sales decreased 1.5 percent to a 511,000 annualized pace, a Commerce Department report showed on Monday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey was for a gain to 520,000. In ...

  AP Short of savings and burdened by debt, America’s millennials are struggling to afford their first homes in the face of sharply higher prices in many of the most desirable cities. Surveys show that most Americans under 35 lack adequate savings for down payments. The result is that many will likely be forced to delay home ownership and to ...

  Bloomberg Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. shares surged in Hong Kong after it agreed to pay 3.6 billion yuan ($555 million) to acquire a stake in China Calxon Group Co. The Chinese real estate developer, which has embarked on a buying spree since last year, closed 3.7 percent higher at HK$5.90 on Monday in Hong Kong, after earlier jumping ...

  Bloomberg China’s banking regulator in Shanghai is halting business between commercial banks and six real estate agencies for a month, the latest in a string of measures to contain risks in the housing market. The suspension, which takes effect on Monday, covers agencies including the local arms of Beijing Homelink Real Estate Brokerage Co., Pacific Rehouse Co. and Shanghai ...

  WASHINGTON / AP U.S. homebuilders’ confidence held steady in April, reflecting an overall optimistic outlook in the market for new homes even as a gauge of current sales fell slightly. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released was unchanged at 58. It hasn’t budged in three months. Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales ...

  WASHINGTON / AP A rising number of Americans are preparing to renovate their homes this year, a potential boost for the economy, according to projections released by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The report estimates that spending on remodeling and repairs will climb 8.6 percent this year to $310 billion. The gains would bring renovations close to ...

  LOS ANGELES / AP Robert Leviton’s loudest neighbour is a 12-lane freeway. The busy stretch of highway that runs alongside his townhouse complex is visible from his north-facing windows. The drone of passing motorists is audible throughout. He can even hear a muffled version of it when his windows are shut. “I was a little bit worried about how ...

  Bloomberg The U.S. consumer might be the engine of global growth — just not the roaring V12 it used to be. From the fourth quarter of 2003 through 2006, amid the real estate bubble, personal consumption expenditures grew at an average annual clip of 3.5 percent. Since the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite 20-City Home Price Index bottomed out in March 2012, ...

  Bloomberg It’s a good time to be a tenant in Singapore. Rentals across the city-state’s home, office and retail properties dropped in the quarter ended March as an oversupply and weak demand dragged down prices sought by landlords. Singapore’s home rental index dropped 1.3 percent in the three months ended March 31 from the previous quarter, data from the ...

  Bloomberg Home sales in New York’s Hamptons fell to the lowest level in three years as would-be buyers of beachside mansions stayed on the sidelines during a turbulent first quarter on Wall Street. Purchases in the Long Island resort towns, a second-home market popular with financiers and celebrities, totaled 437 in the three months through March, down 19 percent ...