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  • July building permits 5% above June estimate

    July building permits 5% above June estimate

    The United States Census Bureau released the Monthly New Residential Construction for July 2026. Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,443,000, 5% above the revised June rate of 1,374,000 and 3.1% above the July 2025 rate of 1,400,000.

    Privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,239,000, 12.4% below the revised June estimate of 1,415,000 and 13.5% below the July 2025 rate of 1,432,000. Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 808,000.

    Privately owned housing completions were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,212,000, 9.1 percent% below the revised June estimate of 1,333,000 and 16.8% below the July 2025 rate of 1,456,000.

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  • How California kitchen designs are evolving

    How California kitchen designs are evolving

    In Southern California homes, kitchen designs are moving away from cold, showroom-style spaces toward warmer, more livable rooms. While indoor-outdoor flow remains the defining feature, warm wood and natural materials are becoming just as important in kitchen designs.

    Large glass pocket doors connect the kitchen directly to the patio, allowing entertainment to flow naturally between both spaces. Homeowners continue to prioritize a seamless blend between indoor and outdoor living, paving the way for open floor plans in kitchens to continue in popularity.

    Shifting towards color palettes, white kitchens are evolving rather than disappearing entirely. Homeowners are pairing lighter upper cabinets with a darker, contrasting island or lower cabinetry for a two-tone look. As a result, this layered approach gives a modern kitchen more visual interest than an all-one-color design, while still keeping the space feeling bright.

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  • Rising home prices impact summer sales

    Rising home prices impact summer sales

    Due to higher mortgage rates and home prices, summer home sales have been more moderate this year. Home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops, fell 1.7% in July 2026 compared to June. However, sales reached a 0.7% increase compared to a year ago. Lawrence Yun, the National Association of REALTORS’ (NAR) chief economist, said that the year is still showing signs of improvement.

    “Home sales have been remarkably stable, even amid the rising mortgage rate environment of the past few months,” said Yun.

    NAR recently reported that 80% of about 235 major metro areas it tracked continued to see home prices rise in the second quarter. Some metros even reported double-digit annual price increases of about 10%.

    “Sellers are making more price adjustments as summer progresses, and buyers are responding more selectively, but homes are still going under contract at a faster pace than last year,” said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist. “The key question for the months ahead is whether price reductions help sustain buyer engagement or signal that sellers are getting ahead of softer demand.”

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  • Mortgage demand moderates in July

    Mortgage demand moderates in July

    Recent analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index shows that mortgage applications fell across all sectors in July.

    Compared to June, applications decreased 6.6% and dropped 1.5% year-over-year, the first decline in two years.

    With current 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates at 6.69%, these dips in applications are largely attributed to growing economic pressures on consumers and geopolitical uncertainty with the war in Iran.

    In July, the average loan price also fell across all categories.

    “The overall loan size decreased 2.5% to $383,600,”  wrote NAHB Forecasting and Analysis economist Catherine Koh. “The average purchase loan size fell 2.6% to $444,600, while the average refinance loan size declined 2.2% to $296,000.”

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