Happy Arbor Day! Earth Week has officially ended, and now let’s get into this week’s Real Estate Resource Roundup to finish off the month of April!
Housing Market Nears U.S. Busy Sales Season on Positive Note
As the spring and summer housing markets are known for being the busiest time in US residential real estate, sales of existing homes saw the most increase this past March than in the previous four years.
Americans Agree: Real Estate Best Long-Term Investment
If there was ever any doubt about the public confidence in the US housing market, it’s over now. For the second consecutive year, a majority of Americans once again believe that “real estate is the best long-term investment,” according to a recently released Gallup poll.
U.S. Homes Are Still a Bargain on the International Market
Despite recent gains in the U.S. dollar’s value, the American housing market remains attractive to foreign buyers.
Home Buyers Push Up Loan Demand
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, home purchase applications shot up to 5 percent for the week ending April 17. Experts are using this information as the leading indicator of future home sales.
Mortgage Rates Pause as Homebuyers Get Moving
Despite the demand for new loans, mortgage rates remained largely the same this week as buyers are busy searching for homes and filing loan applications. This all makes for a very strong start to the warm-weather home buying seasons.
‘Stale’ Homes Are Tightening Up the Housing Market
A lack of inventory may be slowing the still busy spring housing market. While people are willing to look for homes, nearly 75 percent of houses on the market are considered stale, meaning they’ve been listed for than a month with little to no interest from buyers.
Top 5 Calls to Action for Real Estate Agents
These effective call to actions from a boutique communications firm are especially tailored to help real estate agents generate more leads on social media and via content marketing, as well as encourage engagement from real estate consumers.
Facebook Changes News Feed Algorithm To Prioritize Content From Friends Over Pages
The latest update to Facebook’s newsfeed will push down business pages on personal feeds based on relevance and engagement. Pages that do not see a lot of interactions will be harder to find in user’s news feeds and posts that user’s friends “like” or comment on, will also be pushed down in the news feed.
We’ll be back with our news roundup to kick off May next Friday, but in the meantime, be sure to check out our super helpful Last Minute Open House Checklist, and find out how to impress potential buyers with our tips for making rooms look more spacious through staging! Also, we’d like to thank everyone for supporting our philanthropic partnership with Rebuilding Together by donating to help low-income families repair homes, and if you haven’t had your chance yet, visit our donation page. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
