New home sales in the U.S. have taken a slight fall, decreasing 2.1% last month and falling from a five-month high. According to the Commerce Department, sales volume decreased to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 464,000. Although percentages are down from the previous month, November’s rates still exceeded many expectations and remain near a five-year high. More here

A new study has found that some locations may be more desirable than others for baby boomers to live. The study uncovered many factors that play a role in where seniors want to live, such as health care access and climate. Raleigh, NC, Austin, TX, and San Antonio all topped the list for more desirable, and affordable locations for baby boomers to live. The authors of the study said, “to determine America’s Baby Boomer Boom Towns, we analyzed not just Boomer population growth for the country’s 100 most populated metro areas, but also per-capita growth in gross domestic product (GDP), per-capita personal income growth, housing affordability and number of health care workers per capita.” More here

This last year was decidedly positive overall for the housing market, and many experts expect the trend to continue into 2014. Prices, sales, and mortgage rates are all expected to march into the new year on a strong note while slowly increasing throughout the coming year. Housing construction is also expected to improve in 2014. Investment manager Goldman Sachs Asset Management said ”Construction won’t return to normal this year, but it will strengthen enough to be the main driver of the housing recovery as home price gains shrink.” More here 

New data that has been released suggests the housing market will continue to strengthen in 2014. While the predictions for housing market growth are extremely positive, the economy is not expected to expand substantially. Interest rates are expected to remain low, and market purchases will rise in 2014. FBR & Co. said, “financials, particularly banks and thrifts, outperformed the broader indices in 2013, and, generally speaking, we expect in-line performance at best over the coming year as stock prices have drastically outperformed fundamentals for most spread-based lending businesses.” More here