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According to a new report by CNBC, there has been a recent surge in the number of the houses listed for sale in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Northern Virginia.

Unfortunately, however, the increase in listings has not translated into an increase in sales, leaving a surplus of unsold homes in the area.

“We only had a 1.64 month supply of homes in January 2014. This led to a lot of multiple contract situations which drove up prices, and by the time many spring sellers put their homes on the market it appears that the prices weren’t able to hold, which led to higher days on market and increased inventory,” Edward Berenbaum, a Realtor in Alexandria, Virginia, told CNBC.

Image via flickr/Ben Salter

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Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick have lowered the asking price on their New York City mansion from $22 million to $19.95 million after failing to attract a buyer for the second time.

The couple purchased the 6800-square-foot property in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood for $18.995 million in 2011 and first listed it for sale in 2012 for $24.995 million.

According to the listing on Zillow, the historic home features five bedrooms, eight bathrooms and seven fireplaces.

Image via Zillow.com

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A new study conducted by Douglas Massey of Princeton University and Jonathan Rothwell of the Brookings Institution has confirmed that the neighborhood in which an individual lives for the first 16 years of his or her life has a greater impact on future wealth than even the gap between high school and college graduates.

The men found that individuals who are raised in the wealthiest 20 percent of neighborhoods earn $900,000 more over their lifetimes than those in the poorest 20% of neighborhoods.

“Growing up in a poor neighborhood would wipe out much of the advantage of growing up in a wealthy household,” Rothwell adds, citing school districts in this neighborhoods as the determining factor.

Image via flickr/Loren Kerns

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The Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed in a new report on Tuesday that mortgage lending is at its lowest level in 13 years.

At the current rate, 2014 is set to go on record as the weakest year for new loans since 2000.

According to Wall Street Journal blogger Nick Timiraos, “For the year ended in September, mortgage lending has averaged $357 billion per quarter over the prior four quarters, the lowest since the middle of 2001. And unless the fourth quarter is unusually strong – and it usually isn’t, because housing market activity slows in the winter – that will leave 2014 as the worst year for mortgage volumes since 2000.”

Image via flickr/401(k) 2012

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