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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — In the Colorado ski town of Steamboat Springs, motels line the freeway, once filled with tourists eager to pitch down the slopes or bathe in the local hot springs. Now residents like Marc McDonald, who keep the town humming by working service-level jobs, live in the converted motels. They cram into rooms, some with small refrigerators and 6-foot-wide kitchens, or even just microwave kitchenettes. Others live in mobile homes. Steamboat Springs is part of a wave of vacation towns across the country facing a housing crisis and grappling with how to regulate the industry they point to as a culprit: Short-term rentals such as those booked through Airbnb and Vrbo that have squeezed small towns’ limited housing supply and sent rents skyrocketing for full-time residents. “It’s basically like living in a stationary RV,” said the 42-year-old McDonald, who lives with his wife in a just over 500-square-foot converted motel room for $2,100-a-month, the cheapest plac...

U.S. mortgage rates have continued their decline, falling below 5% for the first time since April. According to a survey released by Freddie Mac on Thursday, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has fallen to an average of 4.99%. Just one week ago, rates were averaging around 5.30%. This is the second week in a row that mortgage rates have fallen, and it also marks the sharpest drop in the cost of borrowing money for a home since early July. Mortgage rates have been on a general upward climb for more than a year. This time last year, 30-year mortgages were hovering around 2.77%. Rates peaked in late June when they hit an average of 5.81%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage has also dipped, from 4.58% last week to 4.26%. But once again, these rates are still significantly higher than this time last year, when a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged at 2.10%. Higher mortgage rates can make it more difficult for people to buy homes because a higher rate means a more expensive monthly payment, whi...