Rural America is shrinking as residents leave for bigger metros in search of better opportunities.Out of the top 10 counties nationally that have seen a decline in population, five are in Mississippi, according to new U.S. Census Bureau statistics. “Rural areas have a hard time competing with larger cities that offer more job opportunities and higher wages to young residents and families,” says Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com®. In Yazoo County, MS, the population dropped by 6.4% between July 2023 and 2024. The county, once an agricultural hub in the Mississippi Delta, has lost residents due largely to domestic outmigration. Similarly, the neighboring Sunflower County—which was…
Author: Laura Bennett
President Donald Trump’s administration has taken the first step toward fulfilling his campaign promise of opening up some federal land to build new homes and boost the nation’s housing supply. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner on Monday announced a new joint task force that will begin identifying federal land that is suitable for housing development. Nationwide, the federal government owns about 1 million square miles of land, or about 27% of the country’s total land area. The new initiative will focus on the roughly 500 million acres managed by the Department of Interior, which oversees national parks and wildlife…
The much anticipated spring selling season is a few weeks away, and signs point to a friendlier market for homebuyers. The share of consumers saying that now is a good time to buy was the highest in over a year, but still only at 24%. Meanwhile, the share of those saying that it’s a good time to sell remains high, at 62%. On the one hand, this aligns with the data. The Realtor.com® weekly housing inventory showed that listing prices softened as new listings and active inventory growth both rose and homes took longer to sell. These are all signs consistent with a housing…
The tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have garnered swift reaction, including China’s retaliatory tariffs, which will take effect on April 10, but their true effects on any trade war remain to be seen in the coming weeks. Financial and equities markets were rocked by the latest administration tariff announcement, which added new tariffs of varying amounts on just about all trading partners. While this might not mean ongoing inflation, tariffs will certainly raise measured prices in the near term, making it harder for the Fed to parse incoming data and raising the risk of a policy mistake. “While uncertainty remains elevated, it…
The U.S. added more jobs than expected in March, despite federal layoffs led by Elon Musk’s DOGE task force, but the good news was largely overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs. Total employment rose by 228,000 last month, and the unemployment rate increased slightly 4.2%, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The March gain was more than economists expected and well above February’s revised figure of 117,000. Strong employment growth is usually a positive signal for the housing market, which currently remains near historically weak levels in terms of the number of home sales. But the latest job report data precedes Trump’s stiff tariffs on…
Inflation continues to be a thorn in the economy’s side, and data suggests growing concern from consumers and businesses about the impact of tariffs on the broader economy. On Friday, the PCE Index, which is the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, was steady at an above-target pace, and the core measure received an uptick. This contrasts a bit with recent trends in consumer price index data, which had shown some progress. Consumer confidence also fell overall, driven largely by falling expectations about the next six months, which dropped to a 12-year low. Uncertainty about what’s ahead has kept longer-term rates relatively…
new multifamily building will soon be going up in Fort Lauderdale, FL, after the builder secured an $80 million loan. Affiliated Development, a real estate developer based in South Florida, secured $80 million in financing and has officially begun construction on its latest multifamily development, The Era. The Era will feature 400 apartment rental units in an eight-story building with secure garage parking. “The Era is a Fort Lauderdale affordable housing development that received a 30-year property tax reimbursement, capped at $5.5 million, to build workforce housing in Broward County,” Kimberly Maroe, public information manager at Broward County Commission, tells Realtor.com®. Half of the…
ales of newly built homes rebounded last month after taking a sharp decline during severe winter weather in January, while the typical sales prices for new single-family homes edged down. Signed contracts for new single-family homes rose 1.8% last month from January, to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 676,000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The February sales figure was up 5.1% from a year earlier. The median sales price of new houses sold in February was $414,500, down 1.5% from a year ago and a 3% drop from January. Last month’s typical sales price was the lowest for any February since 2022. The…
Lennar, one of the nation’s top homebuilders, warned in its latest earnings call that high mortgage rates, a housing shortage, and economic uncertainty are creating challenges that are starting to squeeze its profits. In a quarterly call with investors on Friday, Lennar executives said that orders rose 1%, to 18,355, for the three months that ended in February, compared with a year earlier. Deliveries rose 6% annually, to 17,834. Those figures beat Wall Street expectations, as did Lennar’s quarterly profits of $520 million on revenue of $7.6 billion. Still, shares of the homebuilder slumped more than 4% on Friday, closing at their lowest price since…
It’s spring home selling season, and there’s good news for buyers who may feel less pressure to commit to a home on the spot as more listing options are available. The Realtor.com® weekly housing data showed that listing prices flattened even as new listings and active inventory growth continued. The data suggests that March home shoppers will have more options and a bit more time to evaluate those options this year versus last. The Realtor.com forecast expects modestly higher home sales from the low 2024 bar as inventory recovery gives home shoppers more options and more market power. That mortgage rates are steady this year…