The main landlord in London’s Canary Wharf financial district is considering scrapping plans for a new office skyscraper and building a 60-story apartment tower instead.

Canary Wharf Group is consulting with local authorities about the potential for building around 700 homes at its 1 Park Place site that would be purpose-built for tenants, according to an application on the Tower Hamlets council website. The firm had won initial permission in 2015 for a one million square foot office building, the equivalent of two Gherkin skyscrapers.

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders improved in April as strong demand helped offset concerns about rising material costs and supply chain issues.

A gauge of builder sentiment rose to 83 from a March reading of 82, the highest in two months, National Association of Home Builders data showed Thursday. The figure was in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

U.S. President Joe Biden just signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion relief package and his first major piece of legislation. The administration has signaled the next stimulus will focus on infrastructure — but it will have to tackle more than just better bridges and highways.

Infrastructure improvements need to start at home, according to climate advocates and industry executives. More specifically, they see residential investments as the key to jobs, equity and public health — fulfilling the president’s pledge to “build back better.” Grid weatherization, building efficiency upgrades, low-income energy assistance and rebates for retrofits should serve as the engine for the next infrastructure package, according to a new report from the Roosevelt Institute, a think tank, and the Evergreen Collaborative, a climate change advocacy group. They plan to offer lawmakers a suite of detailed policies and options to consider as they craft new legislation.

Varde Partners is investing more than $250 million to fund development of single-family homes in Arizona, Florida and Texas in a bet on Sun Belt suburbs.

With historically low mortgage rates driving a housing rally during the pandemic, Varde is putting money into the real estate market through a trio of transactions as Americans shift away from coastal cities in a search for larger properties.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes increased unexpectedly in December, capping the best year for the housing market since 2006 as historically low mortgage rates helped power demand.

Contract closings rose 0.7% from the prior month to an annualized 6.76 million rate, according to National Association of Realtors data released Friday. The figure topped all but one estimate from economists in Bloomberg survey that had a median of 6.56 million.

For years following the Great Recession, households faced a number of financial hurdles hindering their ability to buy a home. The three biggest were: a weak labor market that didn't give workers enough income to purchase a house; elevated levels of student loan debt; and high apartment rents that prevented prospective buyers from saving money for a down payment.

Legislation signed into law on December 27, 2020, fixed the rate for the 30% present value low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), which had dropped to a historic low of 3.07 in 2020, at 4% (the 4% Floor). Congress hopes that the 4% Floor will increase the supply of affordable rental housing in 2021 and beyond by reducing the need for other types of financing and subsidies for qualified LIHTC projects.

The LIHTC program, which was enacted as part of the 1986 Tax Reform Act, subsidizes the acquisition, construction and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing for low- and moderate-income tenants. The program accounts for approximately 90% of all such housing created in the United States today. According to HUD, an average of almost 1,400 projects and 106,000 units were completed annually between 1995 and 2018. The LIHTC program is by far the largest federal program supporting the creation of affordable rental housing.

As industries go, residential construction in America has largely weathered the pandemic thanks to steady demand and low interest rates. Worksites nationwide are humming with good, paying jobs at a time when 1 in 8 workers are receiving unemployment checks. So why on earth are some construction firms complaining of a labor shortage?

U.S. construction is sprawling, employing roughly 5% of the nation’s workforce (7.3 million employees) at some 680,000 firms, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The industry is essentially its own economy, building hundreds of billions of dollars worth of structures each month. It’s true that many parts of the sector are hurting because of the pandemic. But in others, there’s actually too much work to go around.

U.S. homebuilder confidence eased slightly in December to the second-best level on record following the prior month’s peak, signaling that low mortgage rates are still giving the industry a major boost.

A gauge of builder sentiment slipped to 86 from November’s reading of 90 that was the highest in records back to 1985, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Wednesday. The figure was below the median forecast of 88 in Bloomberg’s survey of economists.

Wealthy Americans, largely untouched by the recession and eager for more living space, have been on a homebuying binge.

Demand for million-dollar homes is growing faster than any other price tier in the pandemic-driven U.S. housing boom. In October, applications for mortgages larger than $766,000 jumped 59%, the biggest gain for all segments measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association. By comparison, the increase for mortgages from $150,000 to $300,000 was 13%.

Strong homebuilding activity in North America will mean tight wood supply and demand for several more years, according to the top executive of the world’s largest lumber producer.

“In the next five years, we see housing starts continuing to be strong and an industry that will be working hard to keep up with demand,” West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Ray Ferris said Wednesday in a phone interview.