Real Estate

  DETROIT / AP A two-storey, wood-frame house became the 10,000th vacant building torn down under Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s massive plan to eliminate blight as the city continues dealing with abandoned properties following a population decline. An excavator was used to quickly tear down the house on Marlowe Street on Detroit’s northwest side. The demolition of 10,000 buildings is ...

  Bloomberg US home prices rose 5.6 percent in May from a year earlier as buyers competed for a scarcity of listings. Prices climbed 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in a report from Washington. The average estimate of 18 economists was for a 0.4 percent gain, according to the ...

  Bloomberg Tengda Construction Group Co., which builds municipal infrastructure projects in China, plans to form a 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) hydrogen industry fund to finance fuel cells and vehicles powered by the gas. The Taizhou, Zhejiang-based company, agreed to partner with Chang’An International Trust Co., Oriental Patron Financial Group and Bestone Asset Management Co. for the fund, it ...

  AP Americans bought more homes in June, the fourth straight monthly gain as the sales rate reached its highest level in more than nine years. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose 1.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million, the best performance since February 2007. Buyers are quickly ...

  AFP Vancouver’s city council launched a review of the municipal regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb, a platform accused of driving up real estate prices. “We’re working to better understand the economic benefits of short-term rentals, as well as the potential impact of short-term tourist rentals on the supply and price of long term rental housing for Vancouver residents,” ...

  AP U.S. renters are seeing their housing costs rise at a much more manageable pace, as new construction has tempered years of runaway increases in rent. Real estate data firm Zillow says that median rent rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in June from a year ago, matching the gains in average hourly wages. Rental costs have decelerated after ...

  AP Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged higher this week, remaining near historically low levels as a continued enticement to prospective homebuyers. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.45 percent from 3.42 percent last week. The average rate is down sharply from 4.04 percent a year ago. The 15-year fixed ...

  Bloomberg Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency plans to sell real estate loans with a face value of about 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion), two people with knowledge of the matter said. NAMA is expected to seek bids for the portfolio, known as Project Gem, toward the end of 2016 and the portfolio will sell at a substantial discount to ...

  Bloomberg It’s a good time to buy a home in New York’s Hamptons, especially for shoppers with more than $3 mn to spend. Sales of luxury homes in the area, known as Wall Street’s beachside retreat, fell 20 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier to 57 deals, while the number of high-end listings climbed, according to ...

  Bloomberg Home prices have hit record highs in some major US metropolitan areas, and house-flippers are behaving like it’s 2005: It’s no wonder people are chattering about another housing bubble. But residential real estate isn’t in a speculative bubble, industry observers contend. Instead, a low inventory of available homes is driving prices higher — prices, however, will eventually recede ...