Here are the nation’s healthiest – and unhealthiest – housing markets

Source: CNBC

Housing remains in high demand in most of the nation, but the housing recovery looks increasingly uneven, depending on location. Whether buyers are shopping for their own homes or for investment properties that will throw off some cash, certain markets are becoming far more lucrative than anyone might have expected just a few years ago. Still, some of the hottest markets are falling from grace. A few of the recession's hardest-hit housing markets have suddenly some of the healthiest. Tampa, Fla., which lost thousands of homes to foreclosure in the past decade, now takes the title of the nation's healthiest housing market, at least according to TenX. It rated locations based on a number of key factors, including population and job growth, unemployment rate and wage growth, as well as industry-specific indicators like inventory and construction. Other healthiest housing markets include Dallas, Tex.; Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas, and Jacksonville, Fla

Why new homes are about to get pricier

Source: Builder

With the cost of building materials jumping 25 percent year over year, according to the National Association of Home Builders' NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, builders are increasingly concerned about how this will affect home buyers in the new-construction market. In 2016, builders ranked the cost of building materials low on their list of concerns—but now it's one of their top five. The increased cost of lumber is a chief catalyst. "Negotiations on a new softwood lumber agreement between the United States and Canada ground to a halt at the end of 2016 and likely are stalled pending the results of an investigation into unfair import practices requested by the U.S. Lumber Coalition," the NAHB reports.

What home buyers wish they'd known

Source: NerdWallet
Nearly half of American homeowners recently surveyed said they would do something differently if they were to go through the homebuying process again, according to the NerdWallet’s Home Buyer Reality Report, which analyzed the steps more than 2,200 Americans took to homeownership. What are the top things consumers say they regretted?

• 20 percent wished they had saved more money before buying a home
• 13 percent would do more research on the mortgage-lending process
• 14 percent would have shopped around more for a mortgage
• 13 percent would research the homebuying process more

Minorities increasingly priced out of housing market

Source: Marketplace

According to new report from real estate brokerage Redfin, it's getting harder and harder for middle-class families to afford housing in the U.S. In the nation’s 30 biggest metro areas, the number of home listings middle-class families can afford has dropped by 32 percent since 2012, and the shrinking pool of affordable housing is felt most acutely by minorities. According to the Redfin report, just 18 percent of new home listings were affordable for median-income Hispanic families, compared to 14 percent for median-income African-Americans. Both rates were down 11 percentage points from 2012. This is compared to 30 percent affordable for those earning the median income for white households.