Free Republic

U.S. housing sales, a key pillar of economic growth in recent years, are looking weaker again. Existing home sales declined for much of 2018. In December, according to the National Association of Realtors, sales of single-family homes, condos, and co-ops fell a larger-than-expected 6.4% from the previous month. A Reuters survey of economists projected home sales to decline by a modest 1% in December.

What if I told you that I could virtually eliminate gridlock in this region? That I could lower housing prices, especially for the poor and working class? And that I could raise wages, especially for the poor and working class? What if I told you I could do all of that, and it wouldn’t cost one penny in tax dollars? If you would just have the wisdom to put me in charge, I could do all of that. What is this magic formula, you might ask? I’m willing to say things that people aren’t willing to say in this politically...

Self-described socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced on Twitter late Tuesday that she will join California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters on the influential House Financial Services Committee, which oversees Wall Street and the housing industry. California Rep. Katie Porter, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley have also reportedly been tapped for the committee by Democratic House leaders, and a vote finalizing their appointments is expected within days.

Medicaid health plans are starting to pay for non-traditional services such as meals, transportation, housing and other forms of assistance to improve members’ health and reduce medical costs. That change follows efforts by state Medicaid programs to give health plans financial incentives to control spending, said Jill Rosenthal, senior program director for the National Academy for State Health Policy. Rather than continue to pay a set fee each month to cover members’ health costs, many states are implementing policies that let health plans share in any savings they can demonstrate. That provides motivation for insurers to address factors such as...

Who said that conservatives aren't discriminated against for their political beliefs? Pardes Seleh, a conservative who has worked at Fox News and is now a graduate student, shared an email today she received explaining why she was denied approval to rent an apartment in Washington, D.C. In an email, the owner/tenet writes to Seleh stating, "after pursuing your various journalistic and social media posts, it's pretty clear your political views are diametrically opposed to ours (and we hate Fox)." Seleh posted that email to Twitter this morning: An hour later Seleh, in a video posted to Twitter, explained that her...

The Utah Transportation Commission on Friday approved spending an extra $38 million to cover rising costs for two major upcoming highway projects — on Interstate 15 and Bangerter Highway in Salt Lake County. The increased expenses are caused in part by rising prices to buy and demolish homes and businesses to clear new rights of way. That includes an extra $23 million for a project to convert three more intersections on Bangerter Highway into freeway-like interchanges at 6200 South, 10400 South and 12600 South. Construction on those projects is scheduled to begin in 2020, but purchasing the needed rights of...

Seattle is on the verge of making some controversial land-use changes that advocates say will make this increasingly expensive city more livable for people who aren’t wealthy. The city may soon allow taller buildings in the cores of many neighborhoods and ease restrictions on mother-in-law apartments and backyard cottages. But change is hard: Those moves have encountered legal challenges. Minneapolis this month took a much more dramatic step on density meant to ease its real-estate crunch and address its history of racial segregation: The City Council there voted to end single-family zoning altogether. Moving ahead, the Midwest city will allow...

In recent weeks, more than 7,000 migrants have gathered in Tijuana, hoping for asylum in the United States. Some will be deported. Others will be detained for long periods of time. Those who have made it into California are finding support mixed with hardship. Across the border, there’s a cadre of pro bono attorneys eager to help them navigate the asylum application process. But the areas offering the most assistance also tend to have the highest cost of living.

The Wall Street Journal reports that speculation on housing by house-flippers is down, and the writers seem to treat that as a bad sign for housing. Small-time investors who flooded into real estate in the past decade to take advantage of low borrowing costs and rising home values are starting to cut back. The moves indicate that the market's short-term risk-takers see limited upside – and possible turbulence – ahead. I believe that it is actually an excellent thing when speculative bubbles get gradually deflated. If the speculative bubbles deflate naturally and gradually, there is much less risk of a...

State and local governments in California have made housing there far more expensive than it needs to be.  Developers rightly complain of regulations at both state and local levels that make housing construction unreasonably difficult and expensive.  California's cities are filling up with homeless people living on the streets or in encampments whose nonexistent sanitary facilities and rampant drug abuse make them public health dangers. As of last week, a new and burdensome regulation has made constructing a new housing unit even more expensive, by at least $10,000, the lowball estimate of the bureaucrats administering the new regulation, or up to...

A controversial plan to make Minneapolis a more densely populated city has enough support on the City Council to pass when it comes to a vote next month, council members said this week. Six council members reached by the Star Tribune indicated they would vote in support of the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan on Dec. 7. It needs nine votes to pass, but even Council Member Linea Palmisano, who opposes the 2040 plan, believes it will move forward. The 2040 plan would usher in citywide upzoning, allowing triplexes in neighborhoods currently reserved for single-family homes, and denser development along transit...

In a first for the Bay Area, developers hoping to break ground on a new housing complex next year are wooing potential residents by offering a quirky but increasingly popular perk. It’s not a golf course, health club or even a pet spa — the big draw will be a farm, and access to all the tomatoes, zucchini and kale you can eat. The “Agrihood” development plan heading to the Santa Clara City Council for a vote as early as next month calls for 361 homes and a small farm to be built on vacant land across the street from...

Rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina often caused residents to be challenged to prove home titles back hundreds of years. That is because of community history stretching back over two centuries during which houses were passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish a paper trail of ownership. A New Orleans lawyer sought a FHA rebuilding loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted upon submission of satisfactory proof of ownership of the parcel of property as it was being offered as collateral. It took the lawyer 3 months, but he was...

Housing-market headwinds are keeping American homeowners in their properties for the longest stretches on record, in a sharp distortion of the mobility Americans have for decades prized. Across the country, homes that sold in the third quarter of this year had been owned an average of 8.23 years, according to an analysis from Attom Data Solutions. That’s almost double the length of time a home sold in 2000, when Attom’s data begin, had been owned. It’s partly the long tail of the housing crisis that’s created stagnant conditions and a less dynamic housing market, Attom spokesman Daren Blomquist told MarketWatch....

Members who have dependents usually have the option of living on-base in the military family housing for free, or off-base and receive a monthly housing allowance. Members who are assigned to locations where dependents are not allowed to travel at government expense (such as basic training, and some unaccompanied overseas assignments) can live in the barracks for free, and still continue to receive the housing allowance (for the location of their dependents), in order to provide a household for their family members. At some bases, members may not have a choice. When I was stationed at Edwards Air Force Base,...

Rent control is a classic example of the law of unintended consequences. When Californians scan their ballots for the November 6 election and consider Proposition 10, which would allow local governments to impose and expand rent control laws, they should consider the long-term harms the measure would inflict on housing quantity, quality, and affordability. Rent control is a textbook example of a price ceiling, in which prices are capped below market rates (i.e., where supply and demand are left free to interact). As those Econ 101 textbooks will show you, many more people will demand housing at these lower prices,...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Furious tenants of a public housing project in the Bronx were pleading for help Monday, saying their buildings are overrun with rats — and they’re not kidding. They have the video to prove it. But we should warn you, the pictures are not for the squeamish. “I’m traumatized,” tenant Veronica Martinez told CBS2’s Marcia Kramer. You’d be traumatized, too, if you had the same kitchen as Martinez. Rats. An entire family of rats, some as big as cats, have taken over, hopping in the sink, into pots and pans. It’s absolutely gut wrenching. “I should never...

There are plenty of reasons for Texas’s population boom over the past several years—the economy, immigration, Whataburger—but one that can’t be overlooked is the fact that you typically can find some space to stretch out. And thanks to a chart from real estate site Property Shark, we can see exactly how much square footage you can get in Texas, compared to the rest of the country, for $200,000.The chart shows how much average square footage you get from a $200,000 investment in 33 U.S. cities, including the six largest in Texas—Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, and El Paso....

At a conference examining California’s housing crisis, one of the more liberal audience members expressed her frustration at those of us who even talked about free markets. I don’t recall her exact words, but the mere mention of such ideas were a non-starter. Apparently, such notions shouldn’t be raised in polite company given what they mean for the poor and disenfranchised. Couldn’t we just get back to discussing government regulations and programs? That comment summarized the problem with discussing public policy in a state where such ideas are considered arcane. The notion that people should be free to pursue their...

Existing-home sales ran at a 5.34 million seasonally-adjusted annual rate in July, down 0.7% versus June, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That was the lowest pace since February 2016... … For years, the Realtors have been warning that many would-be buyers, particularly at the lower end of the market, are being priced out. Now they’re also acknowledging that many others are just deciding to sit it out until market conditions change. … “Three years of exceptionally tight inventory and exceptionally strong price gains are catching up with the market, and are visible both in softer demand from stretched...