Thousands of vacant properties in Sydney amid housing crisis

Thousands of vacant properties in Sydney amid housing crisis

Tens of thousands of homes are vacant across NSW, new data has revealed, as state and federal governments scramble for solutions to the country’s housing crisis. In New South Wales, about 43,183 inactive or vacant homes have been identified, with about 22,000 of the houses in Greater Sydney. The City of Sydney has 1757 inactive … Read more

Why the Italian town of Patrica is struggling to sell off its empty homes for just one euro

Why the Italian town of Patrica is struggling to sell off its empty homes for just one euro

Italy’s one-euro-home sales have been attracting a lot of interest over the past few years, with dozens opting to snap up abandoned properties in some of the country’s depopulated towns. But while towns like Mussomeli in Sicily and Zungoli in Campania have managed to offload various abandoned dwellings to foreigners longing to live the Italian … Read more

Trudeau proposes new reforms for renters amid housing crunch – National

Trudeau proposes new reforms for renters amid housing crunch – National

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced new measures he says will help protect Canadian renters and help them break into the housing market ahead of the 2024 budget. He said Wednesday that the proposed three new reforms will “make the playing field fairer for renters” amid an affordability crisis making homeownership out of reach for many. “It’s too hard … Read more

Vacation home co-ownership site Pacaso adds lower-priced listings

Vacation home co-ownership site Pacaso adds lower-priced listings

Luxury vacation home co-ownership platform Pacaso is attempting to appeal to the masses, as it grows its business during a pricey and competitive phase of the housing market. The company, which launched in 2020 with multimillion-dollar homes listed for co-ownership, is now introducing thousands more listings with share prices starting as low as $200,000. Previously, … Read more

More Victorian pet owners forced to give up animals to secure rentals despite changes to laws in 2020

More Victorian pet owners forced to give up animals to secure rentals despite changes to laws in 2020

More pet owners are being forced to surrender their animals to secure a rental as competition for housing in Victoria intensifies. Despite changes to the state’s laws in 2020 giving tenants the right to own an animal, Melbourne’s Lost Dogs’ Home has revealed the number of pets surrendered due to “moving/no pets allowed” has jumped … Read more

February home sales spike 9.5% as supply improves

February home sales spike 9.5% as supply improves

A “Sale Pending” sign in front of a home in Pinole, California, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sales of existing homes surged 9.5% in February from January to 4.38 million units, on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. Housing analysts … Read more

Sydney real estate agent accidentally sets client’s house on fire while tidying up for inspections

Sydney real estate agent accidentally sets client’s house on fire while tidying up for inspections

A Sydney real estate agent accidentally burned her client’s multimillion-dollar Northern Beaches home to ground, a court has ruled. Domain Residential realtor Julie Bundock was supervising an open house at the four-bedroom home on Riverview Rd at Avalon Beach in May 2019 when the blaze erupted, and she had to make an unenviable call to … Read more

What the settlement on home-sale commissions means to you

What the settlement on home-sale commissions means to you

A landmark class-action lawsuit may change the way Americans buy and sell homes. The National Association of Realtors agreed to a $418 million settlement last week in an antitrust lawsuit where a federal jury found the organization and several large real-estate brokerages had conspired to artificially inflate agent commissions on the sale and purchase of … Read more

Weekly mortgage demand drops as interest rates rise again

Weekly mortgage demand drops as interest rates rise again

Townhomes are under construction on July 19, 2023 in Mundelein, Illinois.  Scott Olson | Getty Images Mortgage interest rates rose last week for the first time in three weeks. As a result, total mortgage application volume dropped 1.6% compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract … Read more

Why home prices have risen faster than inflation since the 1960s

Why home prices have risen faster than inflation since the 1960s

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images While inflation is 10 times higher now than 60 years ago, home prices are 24 times more expensive, a new study found. If home prices increased at the same rate as inflation since 1963, the median price of a typical house in the U.S. would be $177,511, according to … Read more