Some cities faced with sluggish population growth are making an enticing offer to consumers: They’ll pay new residents—up to $10,000 in some cases—to make the city their new home. Such incentives are growing more common, according to a new report from Livability. The various metros are hoping to attract new residents to relocate and help them revitalize their economies.

Cities are coming with abundant offers too, from paying off student loans to handing out free plots of land. Here are some of the cities making offers:

• Burlington, Vt.: Vermont is willing to pay new residents up to $10,000 toward moving expenses, as well as a computer and a co-working space for those who move to the state and work remotely.
• Marne, Iowa: Marne officials are offering new residents a free plot of land in the town, which is located between Omaha and Des Moines. The free lots average 80 feet by 120 feet. New residents can use the land to build a conventional or modular home.
• New Haven, Conn.: New Haven offers up to $80,000 in incentives for new homeowners, including $30,000 for energy saving home upgrades; $10,000 in interest-free loans for first-time buyers to use as a down payment; and $40,000 for college tuition to any in-state college for kids who graduate from New Haven public schools.
• Baltimore: The Buying Into Baltimore program offers $5,000 to those relocating anywhere in the city. For those who also work in the city, they’ll throw in another $5,000 toward a first home. For those who buy a fixer-upper through the city’s Vacants to Value Booster program, they’ll receive up to $10,000 to purchase a vacant home and renovate it.
• Harmony, Minn.: The city is offering up to $12,000 in cash for new residents who decide to build a home there.
• Hamilton, Ohio: The Ohio metro is offering up to $5,000 to new residents toward their student loans. Applicants are required to then live in the city’s urban core and show proof of employment in the greater Hamilton area.
• Ludington, Mich.: Small-business owners may be lured to Ludington’s annual contest that awards an entrepreneur with $50,000 for their startup idea. The winner of its Momentum Business Plan Competition is then required to locate their business to Mason County.

Higher mortgage rates and rising home prices are making housing more expensive for homeowners this year compared to last year. In San Jose, Calif., for example, the average homeowner is paying $500 more for monthly mortgage payments than a year ago, jumping from $4,100 to $4,600, according to a new analysis by Bloomberg.

In nearly one-third of metro areas, buyers paid an average $50 hike in monthly mortgage payments in the first quarter of the year. The cities seeing the fastest increases in mortgage payments, according to the Bloomberg study, are:

• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Portland, Ore.
• Jacksonville, Fla.
• Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.

Renters are facing steep hikes in costs, too. Researchers found that more than 10 percent of all metro areas analyzed saw rents rising faster than inflation. Eight of the top 20 priciest markets are in California, with San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles making the top three.

“By many metrics, the U.S. housing market in 2018 is on sound footing,” says Chris Herbert, managing director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. But “in many respects, the situation has worsened for both the lowest-income Americans and those higher up the income ladder.”

In the first three months of 2018, home and rental prices in more than one-fifth of metro areas took more than 30 percent of a household’s income. In nine metro areas, aggregate housing costs comprised 50 percent of income (eight of which were located in California).

The uptick in new-home construction in some parts of the country is creating a “bonanza” for thieves, CBS 13 in Sacramento, Calif., reports. In Sacramento alone, police have received 26 reports of thefts from new neighborhoods under construction. The thieves are reportedly stealing everything from tools to newly installed appliances inside the homes.

This has prompted police to warn residents and send out more patrols into newly constructed communities. “The loss could be from a few dollars to a tool to thousands of dollars with some of the new appliances,” Rob Baquera, Roseville Police spokesman, told CBS. “Microwaves, ovens, things that are newly installed. Those are being taken from the houses.”

Police say the suspects are breaking into the homes at night so they won’t be seen by neighbors. Additionally, new-home construction often means there are very few neighbors around, if any, to help keep watch.

“You can imagine that these guys are using some heavy trucks or large vans, something to carry this equipment away and those are the things to look out for,” Baquera told CBS.

Areas across the country that have high densities of new-home construction should be on alert for any hot spots that could be prone to thievery.

The number of homes for sale is growing in some markets and that may be the main factor behind the latest rise in mortgage applications, economists say. Mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancing increased 2.5 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The rise was fueled entirely by an uptick in home purchase applications. 

Mortgage applications for home purchases surged 7 percent in the week and are now 8 percent higher than a year ago, the MBA reports. Abounding housing shortages have mostly kept a lid on any notable increases in home sales this summer, but that gradually may be changing.

“Even though inventories continue to decline, they are doing so at a slower pace,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com®. “In other words, while buyers continue to see fewer homes available for sale, the decline was smaller than what we’ve seen in previous months. Before we see inventories increase, we need to see them slow, and the data has shown four months of deceleration (smaller year-over-year declines).”

Buyer demand continues to be strong from a strengthening job market, says Mike Fratantoni, the MBA’s chief economist.

Despite last week’s uptick, mortgage applications remain 4.3 percent lower than a year ago. Most of that is due to a plunge in the number of borrowers who are refinancing. Mortgage rates are higher than a year ago, which is erasing the incentive for most homeowners to refinance. Mortgage applications to refinance a home loan last week dropped 4 percent and are now at their lowest level since December 2000.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.76 percent last week, down from 4.79 percent the week prior, the MBA reports. Mortgage rates remain elevated compared to last year but the increases have been minimal this summer, so far.