{"id":10905,"date":"2019-05-31T17:53:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T00:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=10905"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:00:04","slug":"real-estate-news-recap-may-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-may-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage Rates and Memorial Day: HomeLight\u2019s May 2019 Real Estate News Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">April showers bring May flowers\u2026 and another round of HomeLight\u2019s Real Estate News Recap!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This month has been jam-packed with holidays and housing news. Did you send your mom edible arrangements? Clean your room on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nationaldaycalendar.com\/national-clean-up-your-room-day-may-10\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Clean Your Room Day<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (we didn\u2019t, but there\u2019s always next year, am I right)? While you were out boating and barbecuing, Memorial Day home sales were the talk of the town and mortgage rates dropped yet again. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like we do every month, we\u2019ve scoured the internet for the latest stories in real estate to make sure you\u2019re informed about what\u2019s happening with the housing market. With the summer home sale season upon us, let\u2019s dive right into the rest of the real estate stories for May.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10908\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10908\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10908\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626.jpg\" alt=\"memorial day real estate\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626-64x43.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626-192x128.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626-432x288.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/greg-ortega-83891-unsplash-e1559348952626-500x334.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10908\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: (Greg Ortega \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>1. Not just a day for mattress sales<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/\">HomeLight<\/a> data, Memorial Day outperforms every other holiday, including the Fourth of July and even Labor Day, with regard to real estate activity. This May holiday kicks off the summer home sale season with increasing listing competition and high buyer demand that will continue to swell into the summer months. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ HomeLight, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/memorial-day-real-estate-2019\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Memorial Day Weekend Is a Major Deadline for Home Sellers<\/span><\/a>:<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn 2018, 15,564 homes were marked across the country as being sold (or closing on) Memorial Day, up from 15,211 the year prior. Compare that to 8,504 homes sold on the Fourth of July, and 11,520 homes sold on Labor Day 2018. In comparison, the following (non-holiday) Monday in June 2018 had 10,545 sales recorded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ Market Watch<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2025\/03\/23\/housing-market-best-time-to-list-home-spring-selling-season-zillow\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why It\u2019s A Smart Move to List Your Home On Memorial Day Weekend:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMemorial Day Weekend is the busiest summer holiday for real-estate activity, a recent study from real-estate company HomeLight found. \u2018A lot of home buyers are hitting open houses instead of the beach,\u2019 said Holden Lewis, housing expert at personal-finance website NerdWallet. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ HomeLight\u2019s Take:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Memorial Day Weekend was a major deadline for listing your house on the cusp of a seasonal market upswing. But if you missed the boat, then work with a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-real-estate-agents\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">top local real estate agent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to get your house on the market ASAP while parents look to get settled into a new home before the school bells ring again in August.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10909\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10909\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10909\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292.png 700w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292-64x34.png 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292-128x67.png 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292-192x101.png 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292-432x227.png 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/chart-6-e1559349035292-500x263.png 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10909\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: (Freddie Mac)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">2. Freddie\u2019s Crystal Ball<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mortgage rates dropped at the start of May, with the 30-year fixed mortgage falling to 4.06%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ Freddie Mac,<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freddiemac.com\/research\/forecast\/20190515_steady_growth.page?https:\/\/www.freddiemac.com\/research\/forecast\/20190515_steady_growth.page?\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Steadily Growing Housing Market<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAfter increasing throughout April, mortgage rates declined at the start of May. The combined positive impact of low mortgage rates, a strong labor market, low unemployment, and modest wage growth supports our forecast for a steadily growing housing market in 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We expect stronger home sales and housing starts in the coming months. This will bring full-year housing starts and sales in 2019 back to around the same level we saw in 2018. House price appreciation in the first quarter of 2019 was slightly higher than previously anticipated. This has led us to revise up our 2019 annual forecast for home price growth to 3.6%. On the other hand, we expect house price growth to moderate to 2.6% in 2020.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ HomeLight\u2019s Take:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lower-than-expected interest rates mean that buyer demand in 2018 is stronger than analysts originally predicted, but as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2019\/05\/29\/housing-market-2019-us-home-prices-up-2-7-lowest-pace-6-years\/1268856001\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">inventory rises and price gains chill<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you\u2019ll still have to take care to set the right asking price for your house and present it in the best light to attract an offer.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10910\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10910\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10910\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255-64x43.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255-192x128.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255-432x288.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dan-gold-108972-unsplash-e1559349147255-500x334.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: (Dan Gold \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>3. Taxation without representation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This month, Trump cut trade negotiations with China and announced that he will raise tariff rates on more than $200B worth of imported goods. What does this mean for real estate?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, things are going to get a lot more expensive and home construction is top of the list. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ The Real Deal, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/2019\/05\/16\/u-s-china-trade-war-escalation-leaves-real-estate-in-the-dark\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S.-China Trade War Escalation Leaves Real Estate In The Dark<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDavid Schwartz of Slate Property Group said the two countries\u2019 actions have already driven up prices, to the point where his firm is now looking to buy more products domestically, or at least from countries other than China that aren\u2019t subject to the tariffs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese higher costs will ultimately hit the consumer via pricier rents and condos, Schwartz said. The increased jobs that may come from builders buying more materials domestically could be offset by higher construction costs that shrink projects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">+ HousingWire, <\/b><a style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.housingwire.com\/articles\/48973-nahb-chief-economist-tariff-tweets-could-be-signaling-pricier-us-homes\">NAHB Chief Economist: Tariff Tweets Could Be Signaling Pricier U.S. Homes:<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c\u2018Additional tariffs on a country like China, where we get many of our construction products, are an additional tax on homes,\u2019 Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, said in an interview. \u2018This comes at a critical time because we currently are at a 10-year low for housing affordability.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ MarketWatch, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/06\/26\/the-trade-war-is-weighing-on-chinese-home-buying-in-the-us.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump\u2019s trade war with China is the last thing an already unsteady U.S. housing market needs right now:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, Dietz adds that the 25% projected rate will represent \u201ca $2.5 billion annual tax increase for the housing sector in terms of materials used for construction.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ CNBC, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/05\/13\/higher-chinese-tariffs-just-made-your-home-renovation-more-expensive.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Higher Chinese Tariffs Just Made Your Home Renovation Much More Expensive:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFrom tile to countertops, laminates to lighting, all the fancy finishings\u2014about 450 of them, worth approximately $10 billion a year in expenditures nationwide\u2014are on the list that just went from 10% tariffs to 25%. The additional costs therefore rose from $1 billion to $2.5 billion, according to an analysis by the National Association of Home Builders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe increase is on goods shipped starting last Friday, so the hikes will not hit U.S. shores likely until the start of June. Still, the tariffs are already hurting the remodeling business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10911\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10911\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10911\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332-64x43.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332-128x86.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332-192x128.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332-432x289.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/christian-koch-79679-unsplash-1-e1559349200332-500x334.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10911\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: (Christian Koch \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">4. New home sales are slowing down<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reports are in and the numbers show that new-home sales had a slight decline in April due to a rise in prices for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-does-new-construction-hold-its-value\/\">new construction<\/a>, but are still up year-over-year thanks to low interest rates and builder price incentives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ NAHB,<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlasindicators.com\/blog\/april-2019-new-home-sales\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Home Sales Post Solid Numbers in April<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cContracts for new, single-family home sales declined to a 673,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. However, this decline was off a strong 723,000 sale pace in March, making that month\u2019s sales rate the best since the Great Recession. Furthermore, the April rate was the third strongest of this cycle.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Concurrently, \u201cinventory continued to fall in April, declining to 332,000 homes for sale after peaking at 347,000 in January\u2026[and] inventory of homes under construction has decreased. Such homes have fallen from 211,000 in January to 188,000 in April.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ Bloomberg, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-05-23\/u-s-new-home-sales-drop-from-11-year-high-as-prices-increase\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. New-Home Sales Drop From 11-Year High as Prices Rise:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSales of new U.S. homes cooled in April from an 11-year high amid a surge in prices, adding to signs of softness in housing at the start of the quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRoughly the entire sales decline came in homes priced below $300,000, suggesting a shortage of affordable properties is hampering buyers and the effects of this year\u2019s drop in mortgage rates are waning. Such difficulties indicate residential investment may continue to be a drag on the economy despite steady job and wage gains.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10912\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10912\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10912\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491-64x43.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491-192x128.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491-432x288.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/becca-tapert-1561347-unsplash-e1559349388491-500x334.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: (Becca Tapert \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">5. McMansions? Not quite there yet.<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the end of the first quarter in 2019, new single-family home sizes have on average increased from 2,355 square feet to 2,584. But on a macro-level, this is only a slight increase, and year-to-year, home sizes are actually decreasing. These ups and downs in home sizes can tell us quite a bit about how the rest of the economy will fare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ NAHB,<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/eyeonhousing.org\/2019\/08\/contrasting-built-for-rent-and-for-sale-new-single-family-homes\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Single-Family Home Size: First Quarter 2019 Data<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe post-recession increase in single-family home size was consistent with the historical pattern coming out of recessions. Typical new home size falls prior to and during a recession as home buyers tighten budgets, and then sizes rise as high-end homebuyers, who face fewer credit constraints, return to the housing market in relatively greater proportions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis pattern was exacerbated during the current business cycle due to market weakness among first-time homebuyers and supply-side constraints in the building market. But current declines in size indicate that this part of the cycle has ended, and size will trend lower as builders add more entry-level homes into inventory and the custom market levels off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ Market Watch,<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visualcapitalist.com\/charted-the-growing-gap-between-u-s-home-size-and-price\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Size Matters: Tracking the Economy Through New-home Square Footage<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dietz explains, \u201cTypical new home size falls prior to and during a recession as home buyers tighten budgets, and then sizes rise as high-end homebuyers, who face fewer credit constraints, return to the housing market in relatively greater proportions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cCurrent declines in size indicate that this part of the cycle has ended, and size will trend lower as builders add more entry-level homes into inventory and the custom market levels off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10913\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10913\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10913\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510-64x36.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510-128x72.jpg 128w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510-192x108.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510-432x243.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/petar-tonchev-1625447-unsplash-e1559349533510-500x281.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10913\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: (Petar Tonchev \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">6. Lawn care is planet care?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Call it old-fashioned, but Americans still want that lush, green lawn at the front of their homes. In fact, the 2018 NAR Remodeling Impact Report on Outdoor features finds that standard lawn care and landscape maintenance are still <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/research-and-statistics\/research-reports\/remodeling-impact-report-outdoor-features\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the top features that attract buyers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>+ Curbed<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.curbed.com\/2019\/5\/1\/18524512\/landscaping-gardening-lawns-front-yards\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Age of Climate Change, Can Our Lawns Be More Than Landscaping?:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s \u2018cause: \u201cAmericans still judge one another by their lawns, \u2018ascribing the moral failings of outside the house with what happens inside the house,\u2019 says Professor Paul Robbins from the University of Madison.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c\u2018Shame used to be leveled against people who didn\u2019t take care of their lawns enough,\u2019 he says. \u2018Now, what\u2019s happening is that has become inverted, at least in some places. If you take too good care of your lawn, you\u2019re wasting water.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, what if the typical American lawn actually becomes a way to prevent the consequences of climate change?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Carly Ziter, who studies carbon-capturing potential of lawns at Concordia University, discovered that \u201cthe typical American lawn can <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/03\/06\/climate\/yard-garden-global-warming.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">capture carbon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> better than the land found in an untouched ecosystem. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSoil in residential lawns can also store high amounts of carbon, and planting a certain percentage of native plants does make a difference in supporting biodiversity. Lawns can be an ally in fighting climate change, and, along with trees, can help cool cities and reduce the urban heat island effect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s what happened in real estate news for May, 2019. HomeLight&#8217;s monthly digest of the most relevant real estate news for homeowners!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":10907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[617,580,583,270],"class_list":["post-10905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-real-estate-news","tag-real-estate-news-recap","tag-sell-house-fast","tag-u-s-housing-market"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>6 Real Estate Stories Homeowners Should Read in May, 2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s what happened in real estate news for May, 2019. HomeLight&#039;s monthly digest of the most relevant real estate news for homeowners!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-may-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mortgage Rates and Memorial Day: HomeLight\u2019s May 2019 Real Estate News Recap\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#039;s what happened in real estate news for May, 2019. HomeLight&#039;s monthly digest of the most relevant real estate news for homeowners!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-news-recap-may-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-01T00:53:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T07:00:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Real-Estate-News-Recap-5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Catrina Sun-Tan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catrina Sun-Tan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"6 Real Estate Stories Homeowners Should Read in May, 2019","description":"Here's what happened in real estate news for May, 2019. 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