Free Republic

The cost of a typical American home has raced far ahead of paychecks.This graphic (and below video), via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, charts how the median sales price of a newly-built privately-owned residential units (including houses and apartments) and the median household income have moved since 1967.Data for this graphic is sourced from the Census Bureau (both home prices and household incomes).The Federal Reserve’s CPI-U index was used to convert both to 2023 dollars for an apples-to-apples comparison.Tracking U.S. Home Prices vs. Household IncomesThe median sales price of a new U.S. home reached $428,600 in 2023. That price was more...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that military bases would be used to temporarily house illegal aliens. The Department of Defense shared with Fox News that a section of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which is in New Jersey, will be one of the bases, along with Camp Atterbury, which is in Indiana. New Jersey Democrats, not surprisingly, were upset with the Defense Department’s decision to house illegals on local military bases. They claimed it would affect military preparedness, which is a little difficult to believe considering the Democrat party’s respect for the institution in the previous four years under crooked Joe...

On Tuesday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury surged nearly 10 basis points in a few hours, rising above 4.49 percent. The rising yield came after the release of new price-inflation data showing that CPI growth had hit a five-month high and remained well above the Federal Reserve’s two-percent target for price inflation. Rising yields often indicate that bond investors believe price inflation will continue to grow, so it was probably no coincidence that bond yields—especially on longer-term bonds—jumped following the report’s release. Whatever the reason behind the rising yield, this is bad news for those who were looking for...

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office repeated the Los Angeles Times’ description of the RRA as “a new local authority” that would “buy burned lots, rebuild homes and offer them back at discounted rates to the original owners.”.. A controversial California bill that would have created a powerful “Resilient Rebuilding Authority” for the Los Angeles fires was put on temporary hold by state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, in response to widespread community concerns. “I appreciate the input of the folks who have weighed in about the bill, and along with legislative colleagues have decided that it would be best for...

President Donald Trump has voiced his support for a bill introduced by Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) that would eliminate the federal capital gains tax on primary home sales.Trump was asked by reporters on Sunday for his thoughts on the “No Tax On Home Sales Act” and how it might impact home ownership.Trump told the press, “We’re looking at that, and it’s going to be—it could be a very big positive,” adding, “But I think it’s going to be a great incentive for a lot of people that really need money.”This is a big deal, my friends. No Capital...

"The biggest threat to the Republican Party in 2028 is if we do not deliver on our promises of [home]ownership for the next generation," Kirk told Fox News Digital in an interview at the Turning Point Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida… "If we don't fix the homeownership problem in this country, the cost-of-living crisis, and if we don't give the next generation [a chance] at being owners and not renters, we are going to see what I call ‘Mamdani-ism’ spread across the country," he predicted. The influential conservative media personality said there was no doubt that younger voters were...

A billboard that reads “Yes! I Buy Crack Houses,” put up by what appears to be an out-of-state investor, is drawing sharp criticism across Cleveland. After backlash from community members and city officials, that particular sign has been taken down. But others like it remain in place. Local real estate investors Avery and Tania Mullins said the signs go too far. “To me? It just wasn’t funny,” said Avery Mullins. “What was your point? I didn’t understand,” Tania Mullins added. The Mullins, both born and raised in Cleveland, have seen these billboards pop up across the city with slogans ranging...

California Democrats have long advocated for the construction of multi-family housing under the guise of "affordable housing" and increasing the state's housing supply—often at the expense of single-family residences. Now, leveraging the recent Eaton and Palisades fires, they appear to be using these disasters as justification to displace families from their single-family homes in order to further their agenda for dense housing development. Gov. Newsom (D-CA) said: “Los Angeles has taken significant steps to rebuild after January’s fires, but the devastation is significant and there remains a long road ahead. Thousands of families – from Pacific Palisades to Altadena to...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Tuesday that he had allocated $101 million in new spending on low-income housing in the areas devastated by the Palisades and Eaton Fires, confirming residents’ fears. Residents have long worried that state and local authorities would use the opportunity provided by the fires to build low-income housing — perhaps even for the homeless population, or for housing for illegal migrants. When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appointed Steve Soboroff as “chief recovery officer,” without any kind of public process, some residents suspected that Soboroff’s role would be to push for “affordable” housing. Many residents...

Real estate investors are snapping up a bigger share of U.S. homes on the market as rising prices and stubbornly high borrowing costs freeze out many other would-be homebuyers. Nearly 27% of all homes sold in the first three months of the year were bought by investors -- the highest share in at least five years, according to a report by real estate data provider BatchData. Between 2020 and 2023, the share of homes bought by investors averaged 18.5%. All told, investors bought 265,000 homes in the January-March quarter, an increase of 1.2% from the same period a year earlier,...

Delistings jumped 47% nationally in May from a year earlier, in a sign that sellers would increasingly rather wait than negotiate, according to the Realtor.com® economic research team's latest monthly housing trends report. Year to date, delistings are up 35% from the same period in 2024. The increase is partly due to the overall expansion in active inventory, which was up 28% in June from a year earlier. Newly listed homes increased 8.8% from a year ago, but remained flat over the past two months.

The real-estate industry is battling it out over control of for-sale listings, and home sellers in particular could get hurt. Two major lawsuits filed over the last two weeks against the real-estate platform Zillow and the National Association of Realtors, an industry group, seek to answer the question of who controls home listings in America. The lawsuits, filed by two real-estate companies, challenge the status quo of how for-sale listings are seen by millions of users on the internet. The plaintiffs want to keep some listings private and only accessible to those who hire certain brokers. Under the current policy,...

During a raucous meeting that stretched nearly six hours last week, the Berkeley City Council unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance that would effectively end single-family zoning in most of the city. The measure legalizes “middle housing” — duplexes, townhomes, courtyard apartments and other small multifamily dwellings — in areas previously limited to single-family homes. While the move was celebrated by some housing advocates as an overdue step toward equity, it drew hours of divided public comments. Keep Watching 5 Watch More The ordinance sets a density cap of 70 units per acre across residential zones, preserves current height limits...

Earlier today, the Gateway Pundit reported that some Jewish people are planning to flee New York City after communist Muslim Zohran Mamdani won the Democrat primary race for mayor. Now it’s being reported that some real estate brokers in New York City were flooded with calls from people looking to flee the city within minutes of Mamdani’s win. People are horrified by the prospect of this man being in charge of America’s most iconic city. From the New York Post: Luxury real-estate brokers say wealthy New Yorkers are already looking to flee after Zohran Mamdani’s primary win Within minutes of...

Los Angeles and California never cease to amaze. I can say that with absolute certainty.Just when you think things are simmering down, those folks out there come up some off-the-wall freakin' crap that just so mind glowingly unreal, you have to check twice to make sure you read it right.And then it's still unbelievable.That daffy, worthless, Communista LA mayor is still doing her posing and not much else regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity that hasn't paused while LA's coddled illegals go through the motions, acting out during their tantrums in the streets.STOP THIS LAW STUFF RIGHT NOW“Mayors...

The Adams administration has inked a nearly $1 billion no-bid contract with the hotel industry for emergency shelter space — despite boasting that the migrant crisis is tapering off, The Post has learned. Taxpayers are on the hook for the $929.1 million reupped with the Hotel Association of New York City Foundation as the total city population still includes a whopping 86,000 people, including homeless individuals and asylum seekers. “These hotel units will be used by social services vendors to house emergency shelter clients who have entered the [Department of Homeless Services] shelter system,” the agency said in a notice...

To be honest, I for one am completely underwhelmed by the “largest deportation operation in American history.” Wake me up when we start deporting more illegals than Obummer and Crooked Joe, but, here’s a tip for ICE: Start at the shelters and hotels of Massachusetts.A new item out at Fox News reveals that state governor Maura Healey’s administration is on-track to spend more than one billion dollars on its “Emergency Assistance” program, which largely services illegal migrants, just in Fiscal Year 2025. Here’s the story:Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has already spent $830 million so far in FY25 – which started...

After years of sellers calling the shots, some of the hottest pandemic-era housing markets are now grappling with a surplus of listings — and not enough willing buyers. According to real estate brokerage Redfin, April saw nearly half a million more homes listed than buyers in the market, the largest gap since at least 2013. But this supply surge hasn’t translated into a wave of closings. Instead, home sales have stalled in many areas, particularly across the Southeast and Southwest, where inventory has ballooned past pre-pandemic norms. In Miami, for example, there were almost three times as many sellers as...

SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Two former Caltrain employees were sentenced to a collective six months in jail this week. Both men were charged back in 2024 with the felony theft of public funds after they embezzled money to build secret apartments -- one at the Caltrain station in Burlingame and the other at the nearby Millbrae station. "This is why I say to people, never say you've seen it all, because something new like this will come up," said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Wagstaffe tells ABC7 News the men lived inside the apartments for several...

After four consecutive months of year-over-year inventory increases, California is now solidly a buyer's market, which means the supply of homes is greater than the demand for properties in the state. That is happening in part because, as real estate analyst Nick Gerli put it, "no one is buying homes in California." Home sales in the Golden State are hovering just below the lows of the Great Recession, according to a recent report by Realtor.com, as sky-high prices and elevated mortgage rates keep buyers on the sidelines of the market.