Mortgage lender offering a discount to vaccinated borrowers
Neat Capital wants its customers to get the vaccine and are willing to pay them to do so.
“We believe Neat is the first financial services company to offer a substantial $500 discount to our applicants who have received a Covid-19 vaccine,” said Luke Johnson, CEO of Neat Capital, in this statement. 
“Mortgage lenders need to have important conversations with their clients about the home-buying process and their vaccine status as it relates to employment,” he added. “This is partly due to responsible companies requiring employees be vaccinated to keep workplaces safe, and employment status is critical when trying to fund a home loan.”
Considering the decision to get vaccinated is often a very personal one, it’s a unique position for Neat to push people to get the jab.
That’s because Neat believes that vaccinated individuals are making a crucial, positive impact on the wellbeing of the community, they said.
Borrowers can present any digital or electronic picture of a vaccine record that shows a vaccination record, and applicants are eligible regardless of vaccine manufacturer or the number of doses received.Â
To ensure equal access among all individuals, Neat would make the lender credit available to unvaccinated borrowers who attest that they are unable to be vaccinated due to health status or religious reasons.Â
For individuals who wish to be vaccinated but have been unable to do so due to healthcare accessibility, vaccine cost, childcare availability, or transportation costs, Neat will ensure borrowers can access the vaccine for free to receive this promotional credit.Â
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SUPER PREDICTION: Homebuilders will need to drop prices as rates rise
New home sales ticked higher in July while prices climbed to another record high, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
Sales of new single-family homes rose 1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 708,000, rising from 701,000 in June. The median sale price for a single-family home rose to $390,500, and the average price reached $446,000 — each a new record.
“Despite a surge in home prices to record levels, new home sales eked out a small gain in July,” wrote Nancy Vanden Houten of Ox
ford Economics in a Tuesday analysis. “While demand for new homes remains strong, high prices and backlogs in construction will temper sales in the months ahead,” she added.
Meanwhile, homebuilders are continuing to struggle, as seen with Toll Brothers earnings this week.
While the company missed the consensus estimate, orders reached a record for Toll’s fiscal third quarter, according to the statement.
In value, orders jumped 35% from a year earlier, reflecting the company’s ability to push prices higher.Â
The company’s adjusted gross margin on home sales in the quarter was 22.7%, up from 21% a year earlier. Toll’s wealthy customer base isn’t as constrained by the shortage of homes to buy in the U.S.
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Tackling climate change needs to begin with housing, as governments ignore the issue
As summer heat waves seem to linger more and more, climate change quickly becoming major risk to housing markets.
Across the country, state and local governments are hustling to tackle challenges from changing climate, while simultaneously preparing for things to only get worse.It raises uncomfortable questions: at what point is Miami’s waterlogged coastline just too wet? How many 100+-degree days can Phoenix, the country’s fastest-growing city for the fifth-straight year, handle?Â
[RELATED: Watch: In ‘Unlivable Oasis,'Â a Family Struggles to Find Housing on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis]
“Look at the migration to Florida, Texas, and Arizona,”said Thomas Doe, president of Municipal Market Analytics. “You may be able to live there for a short period of time, but it’s not going to be a 20-year experience.” He calls it denial: “It won’t happen while I’m living there.” “I can’t believe there will be a day when water won’t come out of the tap.”
Researchers at the Brookings Institution came to the same conclusion in a working paper published last September.Â
Changing the types of housing we build is a start.
Homes produce 58.5 million tonnes of CO2 every year, the National Housing Federation (NHF) has calculated, equivalent to the output of 28 million cars – more than the 27 million currently on the country’s roads.
The figures show it is crucial to start making homes more efficient, said Kate Henderson, NHF chief executive.Â
“For too long the impact of housing on climate change has been overlooked. While we’ve become more conscious of the vehicles we drive, the amount we recycle and what we eat, these shocking new figures must now force us to recognise the enormous role our draughty homes are having,” said Henderson.
“If we don’t start making serious progress on decarbonising and retrofitting our homes, we won’t achieve the government’s target of net-zero by 2050. It’s critical that we act now.”
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