diana olick looks at the latest solutions. >> reporter: barely two days after cyber monday, retail's little helpers are rolling in. santa's sleigh's got nothing on u.p.s. and fedex this year, and apartment landlords like monogram residential trust are struggling under the weight of it all. >> our portfolio, which is 11,000 units in operation right now and 4,000 under development, we have this year estimated 300,000 packages coming in. it's become a real challenge for the industry over the last several years. >> reporter: so, monogram turned to tech, installing ipad-controlled lockers in some of its buildings. package carriers access them directly. no more mail room. >> it's a very easy search system. they find the name, you take a picture of the label, so we have a record of that. we save the label and we choose the package locker size, and you put it in, and then the resident gets an e-mail or a text message. >> reporter: tenants retrieve their packages as a security camera watches. the system can cost over $30,000 to install, but in high-end buildings -- >> for our particular demog

diana olick explains. >> reporter: wendy johnson hasn't found the perfect home yet but she's going over her mortgage options now. >> i definitely want to pay attention to what happens this week. >> reporter: after years of record low interest rates the possibility of rising rates has her speeding up her search. >> we've been doing our research, but the -- knowing that this interest rate is going to hit, we definitely want to stay in a tight window for making that selection. so i would say it is pushing us along to be very purposeful in our approach to buying a home. >> reporter: mortgage rates have been moving in a tight range really since the spring of 2013. that's when the federal reserve first said it would ease out of its mortgage bailout and mortgage rates then suddenly spiked. unlike then, this fed move has been expected for a while. so the reaction could be more muted. >> so once they actually hike, it remains to be seen how much of that has already been priced in. but i think most would agree that a majority of the damage that is going to be done by the fed rate hike has already

it is the third drop in four months, and diana olick explains, the reason why is very clear. >> reporter: lynette bruno knows real estate. she works for trulia, a real estate listing company. so, when she decided to trade up from her condo to a bigger home in red-hot san francisco, she knew what she was in for. >> you can't get too wrapped up in this process, because it can emotionally drain you. >> reporter: it took more than a dozen offers and nearly a year for bruno to get her new home. >> i'm not sure there's any offers that aren't overasking in san francisco. definitely, every single offer that i put in was overasking. there was one point i put in an offer of 52% over, and i was in the middle of the pack of 15 offers. >> reporter: driving prices and tight inventory are blamed for weak sales in november. pending home sales, which are a measure of signed contracts, not closings, fell just under 1%, well below expectations of a gain. sales are still up from a year ago, but by the smallest margin in over a year. and it's not just san francisco, either. here in washington, d.c., half the

diana olick explains what's pushing up prices. >> reporter: there just aren't enough of these, homes for sale. newly built or existing. sure, it's winter. the slowest season for housing, but this winter listings are even lower than usual. that pushed home prices up over 5% nationally in october compared to a year ago, according to s&p case-shiller. that was a wider gain than september. the realto ass reported less inventory in november compared to a year ago, and cited fast rising prices as one of the factors behind a steep drop in sales. >> affordability becomes more of a factor again going forward. so i do think it's going to weigh on the recovery of the for sale market going into 2016 and beyond. >> cities with the largest price gains like seattle, denver, and portland, oregon, are seeing the steepest declines in listings. inventory in denver was down 21% in november compared to october. according to denver realtors. but home prices are up nearly 11%. >> we track about 70 markets at redfin. 16 of those markets across the country had double digit price increases. still, eight years

but as diana olick notes, mortgage rates might not be the only housing bright spot in the year ahead. >> reporter: the federal reserve raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade, but mortgage rates don't follow the fed, and so far the rate on the 30-year fixed is actually lower than it was a week ago. still, as the economy improves, mortgage rates could rise. but there is a bright spot for borrowers. more lenders are reporting easing credit standards according to a new survey by fannie mae and expect standards to ease further rather than tighten in the near future. this could help affordability in the housing market, which has been suffering under both tight credit and tight supply of homes for sale. the potential for rising interest rates, which would narrow the field of customers applying for loans, may increase competition among lenders and force them to ease some of the extra safeguards they added after being sued by the government for billions of dollars over bad loans dating back to the last housing boom. fannie mae, freddie mac, and the fha have been clarifying

diana olick has our story. >> reporter: on the other side of the tracks, literally, from washington, d.c.'s union station, a graffiti-covered trash transfer station is being converted to new office and retail space. part of the money for the project is coming from foreign investors who in return will get u.s. visas. >> my focus is these transitioning neighborhoods, and eb-5 has been an absolutely critical tool at maintaining the momentum. >> reporter: eb-5 is the technical name for the program, which was designed to trade job growth for u.s. citizenship. the most lucrative and controversial part of the program expires this week. without it -- >> i don't think projects like this get done. i think they sit. >> reporter: at stake is the program's so-called regional centers. a developer can apply to be one and then pool foreign cash for a larger project. the foreign investor must pay at least $500,000 and create ten jobs in order to get a u.s. visa. but by doing so through the centers, indirect jobs are counted, and that's where the controversy lies. >> some of the new projects, for exam

safer by elevator perhaps, than by sleigh. >> that was diana olick reporting. camden does allow couriers to deliver to tenants doors and leave packages there. they claim 75% of tenants have opted to do that and more than one hundred thousand packages have already arrived still to come on news 4 today... santa has his own castle right here in siouxland. we'll take you their next and show you the magical place fillededith christmas cheer. it's like a step bacacin time. window shopping brought back alive in storm lake, iowa. ktiv's sam curtiss takes us to santa's castle. << "this is christmas," said ron stevenson. "this is what it should look like. this is what we should be doing every year." "you walk in the door and everything is exciting," said ron stevenson. "it's like being at disney only it's christmas and it's snow." "most people have been here before and they like coming back year afafr year," said ron ststenson. "it's a generational thing for us." "my name is ron stevenso" said ron stevenson. "you're in iowa" said ron stevenson. "this is my sixth year as

diana olick joins us from washington with more. diana? >> reporter: sharon, it's the second part that raises eyebrows. some major landlords said no to packages claiming the glut cost too much. with the holiday season upon us, they're rolling in. ups and fedex this year. and apartment landlords like monigram residential trust are struggling under the weight of it all. >> our portfolio, 11,000 units in operation right now and 4,000 under development, we have this year estimated 300,000 packages coming in. it's become a real challenge for the industry the last several years. >> reporter: so monigram turned to tech, installing lockers in some of the buildings, access directly. no more mail room. >> it's a very easy search system. they find the name. you take a picture of the label. so we have a record of that. we save the label and we choose the package locker size. and we put it in. and then the rest gets an e-mail or a text message. >> reporter: tenants retrieve packages as a security camera watches. install but in high end buildings -- >>

our own diana olick has the answers in washington. hi, diana. >> today's consumers have the data on their fingertips. they shop for homes on mobile devices and do the same for mortgages. even if the move happens wednesday, it won't be dramatic. consumers will know immediately. a quarter point hike in the rate does not mean the average rate on the 40 year fixed goes from 4% to where it is now to 4.25% on wednesday. mortgage rates do loosely follow yields on the longer term 10-year treasury and that yield will react to what the fed does. since the start of 2013 when rates were low, that spring, the fed just said it was going to start pulling back on its mortgage bailouts, stop buying mortgage backed funds. just on the news, home sales suffered. here's some quick math as to why. if rates were to move higher by a quarter point, 4% to 4.25%. the monthly payment goes up by about 36 bucks. rates moved more than that in 2015 but it's still not a ton on a monthly payment. the bigger issue is qualifying for that loan at a higher rate. because ba

diana olick, cnbc, alexandria, virginia. >> a huge honor today for the district government in paris.t beat out nearly 100 cities for the green energy award. it honors efforts to reduce the carbon footprint. the bowser administration's windpower purchase resulted in the government's energy being reproduced by a renewable source. earlier this week, news 4 broke the story about plans to put the solar panels on 50 government buildings. the wind and solar power deals are expected to save taxpayers about $25 million over 20 years. >>> veronica is here with a check on our weather. lots of wind out there today. my goodness. the sun was nice, though. >> exactly. i love the way the weekend is looking. it's within reach and sight. here we are approaching friday. >> we have more scenes, of course, from this evening and the national tree lighting. great weather this evening and not all that cold. nobody having to put the gloves on this evening and i don't think we'll need them over the next few days and certainly windy as we mentioned today as we get into the evening hours and for the day tomorro

us right now, senior personal finance correspondent, sharon epperson, and real estate reporter, diana olick. sharon, the first question people have is trying to figure out what it means for credit cards. how quickly do those rates rise? >> you know, steve talked about the fed funds rate and the prime rate. credit card rates tied to that. so you're definitely going to see an impact. now is the time that you should start opening those bills and actually reading what the rate is on them, and trying to figure out if you can pay that down as quickly as possible. it really only affects you if you are carrying a balance month to month, which you shouldn't be doing anyway. but if you are, you may want to look and find right now if they're still offering zero percent balance transfer offers, you want to take advantage of that and get that -- all that credit card debt moved over to one of those. >> a lot of that went up overnight, though? as soon as the fed acted? >> diana, obviously, interest rates, people start thinking about mortgage rates, a home purchase is usually the biggest asset that anyone

diana olick. >> wednesday. >> wednesday.hank you. >>> when we come back, the hottest ticket this holiday season, people are shelling out big bucks for events. the co-founder of seatgeek will talk about higher prices for ticket sales. bring your family and friends together to discover the best shows and movies with xfinity's winter watchlist. later on, we'll conspire ♪ ♪ as we dream by the fire ♪ a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight ♪ ♪ watching in a winter watchlist land, ♪ ♪ watching in a winter watchlist land! ♪ xfinity's winter watchlist. watch now with xfinity on demand- your home for the best entertainment this holiday season. >>> the holidays are a hot time for online ticket sales, so what are the biggest price tags for us now? also aggregates other resellers, though not all, i guess, in terms of giving people marketplace they can access most often through their phone? >> absolutely. well over half of our sales are coming on people's phones. >> they are? what are they buying? >> sports games. you've got the nfl playo

diana olick joins us with the ten most competitive cities. >> it is tech and pharma and finance drivinghat red fin determined were this year's top ten most competitive neighborhoods. and they were all in four cities. red fin looked at the percentage of homes sold above asking price and how fast homes went under contract and what percentage of offers faced bidding wards to determine the list. drum roll please. topping the list, the boston area in cambridge. next seattle's overlake neighborhood in the city of redmond and back to boston for number three, brighton. portland, oregon, with hawthorne at number five. and here is the surprise, san francisco, which we all think of as the most competitive market on the planet, had just one neighborhood in the ten ton, central sunset coming in at number eight. we've been hearing that competition in san francisco housing has pushed companies north to portland and seattle and now we're seeing it in the numbers. boston at number one and three. that is pharma, biotech, finance and of course some tech as well. back to you. >> i cannot recall such a frag

diana olick has more on that. >> black friday and cybermonday adds to millions of packages flooding intoailroom packages like this one. as early as yesterday the loaded carts were rolling in. santa's sleighs have nothing on u.p.s. this year, but this is posing challenges to landlords. the number of rental houses has been soaring with little letup in demand. apartment construction has been s soaring and camden property trust implemented a controversial no package policy at most properties. they said the package glut was costing them almost $3 million a year in lost productive. the it was met with complaints from drentsz but not enough to change the policy. >> no, we do not have evidence that anyone has moved out because of this. we had a few residents tell us they plan not to renew their lease, but any time you make a change to policy you run the risk that you do upset some residents. >> or landlords and reits are using high-tech to deal with the high volume in this building they're using an app which was originally designed for paying rent, now it can alert you to packages. at another bu

diana olick, thank you very much.o draw your attention right now to machinery couontgo pennsylvania, where prosecutors are expected to speak to announce a decision whether to charge bill comes city over an encounter with a woman in that area that happenedo over 12 yeas ago. it's part of alleged assaults against bill cosby, but if they do file charges today, this would be the first attempt to criminally prosecute bill cosby, who is 78. he's been accused by a number of women, so we're waiting this decision. statute of limitations runs out in january. >> it's worth pointing out that she first made the allegations that he drugged and violated her in 2004 and then they decided in 2005 not to prosecute. but that clearly has been unsealed and reproached. only two days left on what has been a volatile year for the markets. plenty of head winds. so what should we expect going into next year? here to discuss, chief global economist at jpmorgan and kevin carroll also joining us, washington crossing advisers. bruce, we just got t

diana olick has that. >> home builder sentiment down 1 point in the monthly sentiment index for septembers a miss. the street was looking for a one-point gain. they got a one-point loss. we are in positive territory but barely up three points from a year ago. the builder did not cite mortgage rates in the report, you have to believe that is weighing on them. they say they continue to struggle for high cost for lots and labor. current sales conditions down one point to 66. sales expectations down two points to 67. buyer traffic down two points to 46. that last one still the only one mired in negative territory. the northeast was the weakest territory at 49. midwest had the biggest drop down 5 points to 55 a miss a drop of one point on the monthly home builder sentimentment back to you. >> stocks near the highs of the day. rising oil prices are helping. investors awaiting on a possible rate hike from the fed. for more on the markets, joining us is bruce bittles, and michelle meyer. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> michelle, after cpi this morning, any reason to think this is no

diana olick, say it ain't so. brian was talking about history repeating itself.s could happen again. >> reporter: it is so, mandy, but it is not one of those no doc negative amortization hi-risk loans we saw during the heady days of the housing boom. it's only in san francisco where home values are five times the national average and designed to help local workers who are paying close their incomes on rent. the nonprofit san francisco federal credit union is offering a five/five adjustable rate loaning. it's fixed for five years, it can only adjust every five years and only two percentage points each time it adjusts. borrowers must work in san francisco or san mateo county and it's only for primary residences. you can't use it to refi either. borrowers are fully vetted, proof of employment required and the loans are underwrit ton that first five-year adjustment hire. they're held on the credit union's box. there are up front fees depending whether you make a down payment. when i asked its chief lending officer rebecca reynolds little about risk, she said they hav

diana olick taking a closer look. >> brian, miami is fast becoming a tale of two housing markets. single-family home sales on pace to break another record in 2015 according to the miami association of realtors but all those coastal condominiums, they are another story. condo construction is booming. 38 towers with more than 3,600 units have been completed in miami, dade county. there are 74 towers with over 10,000 units currently under construction and 65 towers planned but not yet in development. i'm not making these numbers up. condo inventory is up 12% to nearly ten-month supply. a balanced market is considered around six-months supply. condo prices were still up 7% from a year ago in november but that has been fueled by foreign cash. more than half the sales. and that cash starting to dry up a little bit. now, single-family is a much better picture. sales strong and a healthier 5 1/2 month split. the medium price is up 12% from a year ago but prices are still at 2004 levels and about a quarter of single-family sales are of distressed homes. that's foreclosures and short sales.

diana olick is tracking it. hi, di. >> high tyler. the number was in line with expectations. the bigger move actually was yesterday when mortgage rates took their biggest leap in two years on a daily shade on news from the european central bank. the average lender saw a full eighth point hike. that's about one point or 1% of the loan amount in up front costs for a borrower. a move like this is pretty rare. mortgage news daily points out there are only 14 other days in the past five years that we've seen a big jump like this. yes, it only equates to about 14 bucks a month on a $200,000, but it still freaks out today's borrowers. rates are higher than month ago but mortgage applications to buy a home are at their best levels since october. >> let's get a check on treasuries right now. they are all rising following that strong jobs report. on the cnbc newsline -- and there you see the yields on the notes there. the ten-year at 2.27. the yields going up. dan fuss is chairman of loomis sales and one of the legend forces in the world of fixed income investing. dan, good as always t