Housing Moving Past Pricing Peak, But Inventory Still Low:  Nationwide, the rate of home price growth has started to slow, and the competition for homes may be showing some signs of easing somewhat.  “The market’s topping out,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told realtor.com®. It’s “starting to show cracks. It feels like we’ve hit the apex, and we’re moving to the other side of it.”  But that doesn’t mean the housing market is heading for a bubble that is bound to burst. Mortgage lending has remained tight. Real estate economists have long said the current frenzy in the housing market is no housing bubble that is reminiscent of nearly a decade ago with the run-up in real estate.  Some buyers are getting priced out of the market. There is also a severe shortage of homes for sale: Total housing inventory is down 42% year over year.  Buyers still in the market may soon start to see less bidding wars and fewer offers that are way above the asking price. Regardless, economists are predicting an overall slowdown in prices and more moderation rather than any major downfall.

Plummeting Lumber Prices Little Help to Builders:  The price of framing lumber has plunged about 50% over the last seven weeks, offering up a hopeful sign that skyrocketing building costs would ease. However, builders say that the prices they pay have only declined by a fraction of that percentage.  The disconnect in pricing has always existed in the lumber supply chain. It can still be a “long lag time” before the full price reductions come to builders, the National Association of Home Builders reports.  Meanwhile, new-home building prices for home buyers continue to rise. May’s price was 18% higher than last year.

The Home Improvement Boom Isn’t Letting Up Soon:  Half of U.S. homeowners recently surveyed say they plan to spend more on home improvements in 2021 than they did last year. Many homeowners are using cash to complete these home renovation projects. kitchen and bathroom renovations tend to offer some of the highest returns on investment.

Top 7 Hot Spots for Undeveloped Land:  Realtor.com® evaluated the 100 largest metros in the U.S. to find where land values have increased the most since the pandemic (comparing the first half of 2020 with the first half of 2021).  The top 7 areas with % increase and price per sq. ft. of raw land are:  North Port/Sarasota, FL (+92% / $2.52), Portland, OR (+72% / $9.17), Los Angeles, CA (+67% / $1.38), Boise City, ID (+52% / $3.06), Raleigh, NC. (+50% / $1.71), Syracuse, NY (+50% / $0.40), Spokane, WA (+47% / $0.43).