Western Washington housing market cooling

New numbers show home price growth slowed for the first time in months, as high-interest rates and even higher home prices eliminate would-be homebuyers.

After a chaotic year of bidding wars, buyers waiving all contingencies and homes selling for well over the asking price, the housing market may finally be cooling off.

New data from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index shows home price growth slowed down for the first time since 2021 in the month of April nationwide, including in western Washington.

In the month of May, a new report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) also showed a big boost in active listings and a slowdown in sales.

The changing tides come as mortgage rates soar to their highest level in 14 years, pricing out many would-be homebuyers.

“The housing market is slowing down. It used to be very competitive when interest rates were close to 3%. Now mortgage rates are close to 6%, and it got 50% more expensive to borrow to buy a home right now than it was just a couple of months ago,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, a real estate brokerage firm.

“A lot of buyers are just bowing out of the market,” she continued.

In turn, those high-interest rates are taking a toll on buyers’ purchasing power.

According to Redfin, in December 2021, a buyer with a $2,500 monthly housing budget would have been able to purchase a home that cost just over $517,000.

In June 2022, that same budget would only get you a house priced just shy of $400,000.

On average, that means buyers lost roughly $120,000 in purchasing power because of the rate hikes.

In addition, while buyers can afford less, home prices are still high.

“On a $2,500 budget in Seattle, last year you would have been able to afford about 12% of homes, and now it’s only five, six percent of homes,” Fairweather said. “There are just so few homes that are affordable to somebody making $100,000 or less.”

As would-be buyers are priced out, homes are now staying on the market longer.

“Homes aren’t getting as many offers, some aren’t getting offers at all, so they sit on the market and that inventory has a chance to pile up,” Fairweather explained.

Redfin reports a 16.2% increase in Seattle housing inventory from April to May of this year.

NWMLS is based in Kirkland, Washington, and services 26 counties in our region. The nonprofit group reports 13,075 new listings added to its inventory during the month of May — up 9.7% from a year earlier and the highest monthly number since June 2021.

The decline in buyers has led some sellers to adjust their pricing.

“Some (sellers) are dropping their prices. We’re seeing more and more price drops crop up. The market just got too hot all across the country and including Seattle, so now sellers have to be a bit more realistic,” said Fairweather.

Fairweather explained she believes the days of buyers waiving all contingencies are likely in the past, now that there is more inventory and less competition, but that doesn’t mean buyers have the upper hand.

“You still have to pay a lot of money, so it’s not like buyers are really winning in this situation, but I think because there are fewer buyers out there, sellers are having to compromise a bit more,” she said.

Fairweather advises buyers to focus on getting a home that is right for them, and doing the best they can to find what they want based on their budget.

“The good news is when you do find the home, you’re going to have a better chance of winning it because there’s less competition,” she said.

NWMLS is based in Kirkland, Washington, and services 26 counties in our region. The nonprofit group reports 13,075 new listings added to its inventory during the month of May — up 9.7% from a year earlier and the highest monthly number since June 2021.

The decline in buyers has led some sellers to adjust their pricing.

“Some (sellers) are dropping their prices. We’re seeing more and more price drops crop up. The market just got too hot all across the country and including Seattle, so now sellers have to be a bit more realistic,” said Fairweather.

Fairweather explained she believes the days of buyers waiving all contingencies are likely in the past, now that there is more inventory and less competition, but that doesn’t mean buyers have the upper hand.

“You still have to pay a lot of money, so it’s not like buyers are really winning in this situation, but I think because there are fewer buyers out there, sellers are having to compromise a bit more,” she said.

Fairweather advises buyers to focus on getting a home that is right for them, and doing the best they can to find what they want based on their budget.

“The good news is when you do find the home, you’re going to have a better chance of winning it because there’s less competition,” she said.

~Elle Thomas, KIRO 7 News

2024 Housing Market Predictions

Housing prices continue to climb despite sky-high mortgage rates

Experts in a recent Zillow Research survey believe the inventory of housing to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

• Despite soaring mortgage rates pushing down demand for homes, real estate prices are still sky-high.
• Home sales have started to decline however, with some sellers even lowering their asking price, leading some to suspect an impending housing market cool-off.

While there are plenty of signs that housing demand is declining, economists everywhere continue to theorize how long it will take to truly see home prices cool-off. Will the housing market ease in the next few years?

Many home-buying experts seem to think so. In a recent Zillowsurvey, the majority of panelists expect home prices to ease between now and 2024.

The primary issue plaguing the U.S. housing market is fundamentally supply and demand. Homes are simply not being built at a rate fast enough to match their sky-high demand. For context, the stockpile of available homes in the country is currently around two-months worth. In a normal housing environment, the U.S. typically has a five month or higher inventory of homes.

As such, despite the highest mortgage rates in 13 years, and rapidly falling demand for homes, the housing market has remained red hot. Some suspect that further rate hikes, possibly compounded by a recession will be enough to cool down prices. Others feel the housing market is likely to continue growing, but at a much slower rate.

The housing market is, in some sense still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. When the pandemic hit, both buyers and sellers were sent into a frenzy, largely due to record-low mortgage rates. Add in a general slow-down in home construction the past few years, has led to the currently shored-up state of the housing market.

When Will the Housing Market Cool-Off?

In the long-term, raising the supply of homes remains one of the only foolproof methods of lowering prices. In that regard, the future may be bright for would-be homebuyers.

According to Zillow Research, the supply of homes may not catch up to historical levels until around 2024. In a survey of housing experts, the majority believe home inventories will reach pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

In the survey, experts were asked what year they expect to see inventory return to at least a monthly average of 1.5 million units. The most optimistic 4% answered 2022, and a further 37% answered 2023. The most frequent answer, from 38% of respondents, was 2024, meaning a cumulative 79% of respondents expect such a restoration of inventory sometime between now and the end of 2024.

It’s difficult to predict the future, especially amidst the rampant uncertainty present today. With that said, it’s clear that help is on the way for first-time home buyers, sooner or later.

By Shrey Dua, InvestorPlace

Cooling housing market – 25% of home listings cut asking price

Home sellers are slashing prices as the housing sector cools, according to a research from a real-estate data firm.

More than 25% of homes on the market right now have cut their price, Altos Research found, which is in stark contrast to how prices have been climbing over the last two years. 

“Rising rates and the shift in the economy has slowed down the super-eager buyers,” Mike Simonsen, co-founder and CEO of Altos Research, a real estate analytics firm, told MarketWatch. “And what we’re feeling is the speed of the shift.”

Put bluntly: “We’re shifting from a real buying frenzy to much more normal conditions,” he added.

Adding to the cooling off: On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage point, the biggest increase since 1994 as it tries to tame rising inflation from a 40-year high.

The U.S. housing market boom amid the pandemic was felt across the country. In a high-demand area like San Jose, California, the typical home was valued at $1.5 million, as of May 31, according to Zillow. That’s up 23.7% from the previous year. In May 2020, the typical home in the Bay Area was valued at $1.09 million.

Under normal conditions, about a third of homes listed on the market for sale take a price cut before they’re sold, Simonsen explained, and when the market is hot, that drops down to 25%. This spring, however, only 14% of homes on the market took a price cut. And that’s a reflection of high demand and low inventory.

“Sellers in the last two years can overprice their home and still get offers — that condition of the frenzy is gone, so it’s a much more normal market,” Simonsen said.

With buyers slowly backing off, that percentage is now climbing, a trend also supported by research from Redfin, a real-estate brokerage. Some 21% of sellers dropped their list price during the four weeks ending June 5, which was the second-highest share on record, going back to 2015, Redin said.

Sellers will need to lower their asking price by summer’s end. “By July, expect to be back to our normal conditions nationally,” Simonsen added. “We’ve been hotter than normal for over two full years since the start of the pandemic. By August, sellers who aren’t prepared will be surprised.”

Good news for first-time home buyers

The median sales price of a house sold in the U.S. was still at a record high of $428,700 in the first quarter of 2022, up from $313,000 in the first quarter of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the St. Louis Fed. Simonsen said the magnitude of price cuts could vary, from $5,000 upwards, depending on the value of the house.

For first-time house buyers, who have seen prices gradually rise out of their reach over the last two years, there could be some relief. “If people want to buy a home, they would get outbid by maybe somebody with all-cash, or an investor,” Simonsen said. “But now, selection is increasing, competition is decreasing, and they finally have some opportunities to buy.” 

But don’t expect prices to hit rock-bottom just yet. “There is nothing in the data yet that shows an indication of home prices crashing,” Simonsen said. But “there is an indication of probably zero home price appreciation in 2023.”

~Aarthi Swaminathan, Market Watch

Is a more “normal” market on the horizon?

For the fifth consecutive month, pending home sales declined in March from February, down 1.2%, signaling a potential return to “much calmer” conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Only the northeast region saw an increase in pending sales in March from February, according to an NAR news release based off data from its pending home sales index. But compared to the prior year, “pending sales fell for the 10th consecutive month, by 8.2%, with pending sales down across all regions.”

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR, said the dip in contract signings suggests “multiple offers will soon dissipate and be replaced by much calmer and normalized market conditions.”

He also expects higher mortgage rates to remain a key factor affecting home sales.

Yun forecasts the 30-year fixed mortgage rate will reach 5.3% by the fourth quarter, resulting in a 2022 mortgage rate average of 4.9%. The average mortgage rate should jump to 5.4% by 2023, Yun said.

“As it stands, the sudden large gains in mortgage rates have reduced the pool of eligible homebuyers, and that has consequently lowered buying activity,” Yun said. “The aspiration to purchase a home remains, but the financial capacity has become a major limiting factor.”

Yun additionally expects inflation will average 8.2% for the year, “although it will start to moderate to 5.5% in the second half of this year.” As of March the higher mortgage rates and sustained price appreciation has resulted in a year-over-year increase of 31% in mortgage payments – although major Sun Belt metros such as Tampa, Phoenix and Las Vegas have seen increases closer to 50% year-over-year.

Despite that, Yun said: “Overall existing-home sales this year look to be down 9% from the heated pace of last year. Home prices are in no danger of decline on a nationwide basis, but the price gains will steadily decelerate such that the median home price in 2022 will likely be up 8% from last year.”

Renters will face similar increases, which Yun says could prompt some renters to explore ownership – although the increasing mortgage rates may price them out.

“Fast-rising rents will encourage renters to consider buying a home, though higher mortgage rates will present challenges,” Yun said. “Strong rent growth nonetheless will lead to a boom in multifamily housing starts, with more than 20% growth this year.”

Even as home inventory remains low, Yun also expects single-family homebuilders to take a cautionary approach, resulting only in a modest “boost to construction of less than 5%.”

~ Kate Douglas, HWMedia

Prices, rates & INVENTORY are up in Seattle

Rising mortgage rates and high home prices mean prospective buyers in Seattle should brace for a financial one-two punch if they plan to purchase a home this spring, but a surge in inventory should keep the city’s housing market humming through the summer.

These findings were laid out in the latest monthly report from Zillow, which said the value of a typical Seattle home has risen nearly 25% since last year. The average price for a home in the city is now $771,631, the report said. If that shocks you, just wait until you hear how much mortgage rates have grown during the same time.

“Higher mortgage rates were anticipated this year, but the speed of their rise has been breathtaking,” said Jeff Tucker, a senior economist at Zillow, in a news release.

In Seattle, homeowners are paying 42.8% more on their monthly mortgages than they were a year ago. The current average mortgage price — $3,009 per month, based on a 30-year mortgage with a 20% down payment — is 21.1% higher than it was at the start of 2022.

By applying these figures to the real world, we see that — in a typical scenario — a Seattle homebuyer could spend $154,326 on a down payment and have their first $3,009 mortgage payment due roughly 30 days later. Conventional wisdom says these steep upfront costs would likely push would-be buyers out of the market, but another factor highlighted in the Zillow report explains why that might not happen.

Inventory, which has been dreadfully low through most of the coronavirus pandemic, is on the rise. While the number of available homes in Seattle is still 17.7% lower than it was a year ago, that figure has grown 37.5% since February.

More inventory means less competition, which keeps already staggering costs lower than they would be if there were fewer houses available. The Zillow report shows that, despite high base prices for homes and mortgages, people in Seattle are still willing to purchase a house — newly pending sales are up nearly 34% since February.

“March was the biggest test yet of whether enough buyers can meet the new asking prices to keep home values growing at a record pace, and the answer was ‘So far, yes,’” Tucker said. “There will be a point when the cost of buying a home deters enough buyers to bring price growth back down to Earth, but for now, there is plenty of fuel in the tank as home shopping season kicks into gear.”

Seattle isn’t alone in the trends detailed in the Zillow report. A typical home in the U.S. is worth 20.6% more than it was at this time last year, and average monthly mortgage payments are 38% higher. Inventory is 22.5% lower than it was last year, but that figure has grown 11.6% since February.

~ Alec Regimbal, SeattlePI

Recent price gains break records

Home-price gains in 2021 are on pace to smash last year’s all-time high after record-low mortgage rates fueled bidding wars across the U.S., Fannie Mae said in a forecast on Friday.

Home prices probably will surge 17% this year, beating the record gain of 11% set in 2020 that surpassed the prior peak of 10% seen at the height of the real estate boom that petered out in mid-2006, the largest U.S. mortgage securitizer said.

Prices for homes began spiking last year after the Federal Reserve stepped into the bond markets in March 2020 to purchase Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to support the economy during the pandemic and prevent the type of credit crunch that crashed the U.S. financial system in 2008.

Both type of asset purchases — Treasuries and mortgage bonds — put downward pressure on rates because home-financing costs tend to track long-term Treasury yields. When the Fed became the 800-pound gorilla in the bond markets it boosted competition for the fixed assets, which resulted in investors having to accept smaller yields.

“We believe strong price appreciation is likely to continue in coming months,” Fannie Mae economists said in commentary released on Friday with the forecast. “When compared to this past spring, housing market activity has cooled, as indicated by measures such as the number of homes with multiple bids, average days on the market, and sales prices relative to asking prices. However, these indicators all remain well above the historical norm and point to a continued tight market.”

The U.S. real estate market struggled with low inventory prior to the start of the pandemic because of years of underbuilding after the 2008 financial crisis put hundreds of construction companies out of business.

Following an initial lull in the housing market during the first months of the pandemic, demand for real estate began to accelerate as Americans working from home, and often schooling their children at the kitchen table, became dissatisfied with their existing digs.

The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dipped below 3% for the first time ever in July 2020, four months after the Fed started buying bonds, and went on to set new records a dozen more times in 2020. The current all-time low is the 2.65% set in the first week of 2021, as measured by a Freddie Mac data series that goes back to 1971.

Lower rates typically mean buyers qualify for bigger mortgages because lenders use a formula that compares the monthly bill of the new loan, with its cheaper financing costs, against income and other debts. That sparked bidding wars for property that drove up home prices.

The rate seen in 2021’s first week is likely to stand in the record books as the bottom, Fannie Mae said. The Fed is set to begin tapering those bond purchases in November of December, according to the minutes of last month’s meeting released last week.

The average 30-year fixed rate next year probably will be 3.3%, compared with 2.9% in 2021, the mortgage giant said.

Next year, home-price appreciation is expected to slow but not fall of a cliff, according to the Fannie Mae forecast. The sale price of U.S. homes probably will gain 7.4% in 2022, Fannie Mae said.

That would beat the 3.3% average annual appreciation seen in the decade before the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Kathleen Howley, Forbes

After declining for 2 months, pending home sales increased in August

• Signed contracts to buy existing homes increased 8.1% month to month in August, according to the National Association of Realtors.
• Buyers encountered higher inventory and slightly more favorable prices.
• Analysts were expecting a 1% monthly rise. Signings were still down 8.3% compared with August 2020. 

Signed contracts to buy existing homes increased 8.1% month to month in August, according to the National Association of Realtors, as buyers encountered higher inventory and slightly more favorable prices.

Analysts were expecting a 1% monthly rise. Signings were still down 8.3% compared with August 2020. 

August’s increase followed two months of declines, according to the NAR.

These so-called pending home sales are a future indicator of signed contracts in one to two months.

“Rising inventory and moderating price conditions are bringing buyers back to the market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Affordability, however, remains challenging as home price gains are roughly three times wage growth.”

Home prices in July were up nearly 20% nationally year over a year, according to the latest S&P Case-Shiller home price index, but that is a three-month average going back to May. The increase in supply has lowered the number of bidding wars, according to real estate agents.

Sales rose the most in the least-expensive regions, namely the Midwest and South, reflecting how the shift to remote work in some industries gave buyers an incentive to relocate. 

“The more moderately priced regions of the South and Midwest are experiencing stronger signing of contracts to buy, which is not surprising,” Yun said. “This can be attributed to some employees who have the flexibility to work from anywhere, as they choose to reside in more affordable places.”

In the Midwest, sales rose 10.4% monthly and were down 5.9% from August 2020. In the South, pending sales increased 8.6% monthly and dropped 6.3% annually.

Sales in the West rose 7.2% monthly and were down 9.2% from a year prior. Pending sales rose 4.6% in the Northeast month to month but were down 15.8% from a year ago.

~Diana Glick, CNBC

Housing prices hit record levels in June

With little inventory, home-price growth in the U.S. hit a record high in June, rising 18.6% from the same period last year, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index.

June marked the highest annual rate of home price growth since the index debuted in 1987, beating out the 16.8% annual growth rate logged the month prior, in May 2021.

“While the housing market feels like it has legs that never get tired, inventory and affordability constraints are still expected to put a damper on price growth,” said CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Selma Hepp. “Some early data suggests that the buyer frenzy experienced this spring is tapering, though many buyers still remain in the market. Nevertheless, less competition and more for-sale homes suggest we may be seeing the peak of home price acceleration. Going forward, home price growth may ease off but stay in the double digits through year-end.”

The Case-Shiller 10-city home price growth index rose 18.5% over the 12 months that ended in June, compared with a 16.6% increase in May. The 20-city index rose 19.1%, following an annual gain of 17.1% in May.

Price growth occurred in all 20 cities tracked in the Case Shiller Index. As usual, Phoenix was the leader. For the 25th straight month, the desert city saw home-price growth, a 29.3% acceleration in June. San Diego had the second-fastest growth at 27.1%, while Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver and Seattle all recorded record-high annual price gains. The lowest rate of home price growth occurred in Chicago, which saw an increase of 13.3% from June 2020.

“We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven in part by reaction to the COVID pandemic, as potential buyers move from urban apartments to suburban homes,” said Craig Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P DJI.

“June’s data are consistent with this hypothesis. This demand surge may simply represent an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred anyway over the next several years. Alternatively, there may have been a secular change in locational preferences, leading to a permanent shift in the demand curve for housing. More time and data will be required to analyze this question.”

Another report on home-price growth released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week pointed to an 18.8% increase in home prices in June from a year earlier.

Looking forward, there are signs that the market is cooling a bit, according to Zillow Economist Matthew Speakman. “

Demand for housing continues to far outweigh the supply of homes for sale: Competition remains elevated, and homes are still going under contract more than a week faster than they were a year ago. But despite the enduring market competition, more-recent data indicate that the scalding hot housing market may have cooled slightly in recent weeks,” Speakman said.

“The number of for-sale homes has risen meaningfully since the early spring and the increased listings have appeared to bring some balance back to the market. Sales volumes that were falling sequentially in the spring have recently leveled off and price growth has simultaneously softened. All told, home price growth remains sky high, but more signals are appearing that the housing market is likely to soon start coming back to earth.”

The National Association of Realtors earlier this month reported that the median existing-home sales price in July rose 17.8% annually to $359,900.

By James Kleimann, HousingWire

Is Seattle’s real estate market cooling?

After a chaotic summer that saw extremely low housing inventory, bidding wars and record-breaking jumps in median sale prices, Seattle’s tight real estate market could be showing signs of cooling off for the fall season.

A new market report form the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) found that competition for homes in Seattle eased slightly in July, with brokers adding more listings and less homes going under contract. The agency saw slightly fewer pending sales in July than in June and May.

Some of that slowdown might be seasonal, while other experts took into account that the state lifted all COVID-19 restrictions on June 30, and more people could be traveling after spending so much time at home.

“Although the local market is intense, buyers can find some relief because there aren’t as many offers to compete with compared to earlier this year,” said J. Lennox Scott, chairman and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate in a news release Thursday. “August historically is the last month of the year with elevated levels of new listings before they slowly taper down in the fall and decline more substantially over the winter.”

However, inventory still remains historically low and prices are still climbing, meaning any breathing room for homebuyers might be short lived. Across all 26 Washington counties surveyed by the NWMLS, there is only 0.73 months of inventory. And only 12 counties report having more than one month of supply.

“Despite the extreme shortage of inventory and robust sales activity, there seems to be a bit of a leveling off from the market frenzy,” said Gary O’Leyar, broker owner at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Signature Properties. “In my opinion this is due to a typical mid-summer season market combined with some buyer fatigue.”

Prices also continued to climb. In June, median sale prices for homes in the region soared 30% compared to the previous year, marking a new record high. In King County, the median home sale price hit $775,000 in May, up 23% from the same time last year.

However, that growth is not just in the Seattle metro area. Many brokers said that suburban counties along the Interstate 5 corridor have seen sharp price increases, mirroring the fact that homes in the heart of Seattle are appreciating at a slower rate than homes located away from downtown.

“Prices in Lewis County are up 54.2% from the July 2019 level, Snohomish County is up 40.6%, and Island County is up 44.3%,” said James Young, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington. “The search for value in the suburbs with sharp price increases suggest households are making their housing preferences known. They want to own rather than rent.”

One area of the market continues to rebound from the pandemic: condominium sales. New listings outpaced pending sales in July, and prices rose more modestly at 12.6%. In King County, where the majority of condos are sold, the median priced condo sold for $460,000.

Brokers are advising residents to make the most of the seasonal lull in the market while also warning potential sellers about overpricing.

“My advice to buyers would be to take advantage of this time before Labor Day and the fall market,” said O’Leyar. “[For sellers,] don’t get overly hyped with anecdotal information about the real estate market. Overpricing a listing in this market is still a big mistake.”

~Callie Craighead, Seattle P-I

Home prices at all-time high

Home prices are sky-high, and a recent report from Redfin underlines that point with some staggering data.

Median home-sale prices increased 17% year-over-year to $335,613 – a record high, per data taken from more than 400 metro areas during the four-week period ending March 28, 2021. And asking prices of newly listed homes rose 14% year-over-year to $353,500, another all-time high.

Pending home sales were up 38% from the same period in 2020 — and up 28% from the same period 2019 — but pending sales grew just 0.9% from Redfin’s previous four-week report.

Sales in general are still high, per Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather — 59% of homes that went under contract in the current four-week period had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market — but the recent low numbers suggest some homebuyers have reached their limit on high home prices and bidding wars.

“Add to the mix a dwindling number of homes for sale and rising mortgage rates, and the typical family that is still searching for an affordable house may have missed the boat,” Fairweather said. “First-time homebuyers who were already stretching their budgets will have to make bigger compromises on size and location or resign to renting for another year.”

Active listings fell 42% according to the report, spurring would-be buyers to submit offers that are significantly over asking price and making the market difficult to navigate for first-time homebuyers and other price-conscious buyers. Redfin reported that 47% of homes that went under contract in the current four-week period had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market – yet another all-time high. And 41% of homes sold for more than their listed home price, which was 16 percentage points higher year-over-year.

Fairweather’s suggestion for those would-be buyers: look at condominiums and other more realistic purchases, build some equity, and wait this out.

“[President Joseph Biden’s] infrastructure plan aims to incentivize zoning for multifamily homes, which could increase the supply of affordable homes and provide even more people a path to homeownership,” Fairweather said. “But, there is no guarantee the incentives would be enough for local governments to change their zoning practices.”

The aforementioned infrastructure plan, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, aims to inject $213 billion into housing with the building of 500,000 homes in low- and middle-income areas. And two million affordable homes and commercial buildings would be built and renovated over the next decade as part of the initiative.

~Tim Gaze, HousingWire