Karla Valdez

1 week ago | bdmag.com | Karla Valdez

The spring home buying season is unremarkable, as it is holding homebuyers due to high housing costs and overall economic instability this year. Mortgage-purchase applications are down 6% every month, and pending home sales are declining 2.8% annually, even the Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which is essentially a measure of home tours and buying services from Redfin agents, calculated it to be flat.

1 week ago | bdmag.com | Karla Valdez

There are many potential impacts regarding the new tariffs and how they can affect U.S. trading. This uncertainty is affecting the K&B industry, it is expecting a return to gradual growth after two years of decline. The NKBA Kitchen & Bath Market Outlook Report forecasts that spending on residential kitchens and baths in the U.S. will increase by 0.8%, reaching $235 billion in 2025—an additional $2 billion compared to last year.

1 week ago | bdmag.com | Karla Valdez

M&A activity in the homebuilding industry has not been primarily driven by consolidation of public homebuilders in the past two years. Instead, it’s been motivated by a diverse range of factors, such as expanding into new markets, accessing new technologies, and diversifying business strategies. This trend is expected to continue in the near future, with M&A driven by broader strategic goals rather than just size and scale.

1 week ago | residentialcontractormag.com | Karla Valdez

Since April 18, 2025, framing lumber prices fell by 0.6%, declining to about $480 per 1,000 board feet, and softwood lumber is priced about 23% higher compared to a year ago. Although there are many concerns about tariffs, NAHB continues to track the latest lumber prices and study the overview within the U.S. framing lumber market.

Dec 8, 2023 | daily49er.com | Karla Valdez

Actress, performer and philanthropist Lana Condor visited the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, Dec. 5, for “An Evening with Lana Condor.” This event was only open to current CSULB students and cost $10 to attend. Condor is a Vietnamese-born American who made her film debut in “X-Men: Apocalypse” as Jubilation Lee.