Sales of existing homes rose in February, reflecting an increase in shopping activity and in the number of homes for sale since the start of the year.

U.S. existing-home sales rose 4.2% in February from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.26 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That was far better than expectations. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had estimated a monthly decrease of 3.2%. 

Existing home sales in the U.S. in 2024 were the lowest in nearly 30 years, as home prices hit an all-time high.

The National Association of Realtors released data that showed existing home sales declined to the lowest level since 1995 last year, with 4.06 million homes sold on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, the median home price rose to a record high of $407,500 in 2024.

The Biden administration released a new report Friday showing that homelessness in America increased by 18% in 2024, partially attributing the spike to the huge influx of immigrants settling in the country.

The nation’s homelessness problem worsened again this year.

A record estimate of 771,480 people were homeless in the U.S. in 2024, an 18% increase from a year earlier, fueled by factors including an influx of migrant families, a lack of affordable housing and natural disasters, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development....

More Americans were homeless this year compared with 2023 as families continued struggling to afford rent and other basic necessities, federal officials announced Friday.

Across the U.S., more than 771,800 people lived without housing in 2024, according to a count taken annually on a single night in January. The number for January 2024 is 18.1% higher than in 2023, when officials counted about 650,000 people living in homeless shelters or in parks and on streets. In 2022, the population of people experiencing homelessness was about 580,000.

A new real estate platform lets buyers see the political affiliations of their future neighbors and how many dogs may be living on their block.

Why it matters: Tech startup Oyssey believes social data – like age, education and income demographics – is influencing buyers more than the physical conditions of a home.

Driving the news: Oyssey is soft launching in South Florida and New York City this month. The company developed a website that lets buyers search for homes as well as a tool that streamlines contract negotiations.

Economists in the Biden administration are calling for more aggressive federal action to drive down costs for home buyers and renters, taking aim at one of the biggest economic challenges facing President Biden as he runs for re-election.

Four years ago, Donald Trump declared that Joe Biden wants to “destroy our suburbs.”

“Your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise,” Trump warned. “People have worked all their lives to get into a community, and now they're going to watch it go to hell.”

That hasn’t happened, yet. But a new Biden policy proposal on affordable housing—“what could be an aggressive federal intervention in local politics,” according to The New York Times—threatens to reignite the firestorm.