Author: Brad Beckett

A new report from the New York Fed says household debt has risen to $17.80 trillion (up 1.3%) in Q2 2024, according to their latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.  The report says mortgage balances were $12.52 trillion (up $77 billion), auto loans were $1.63 trillion (up $10 billion) and credit card balances came in at $1.14 trillion (up $27 billion).  In addition, homeowners continued to increase balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) as an alternative way to extract home equity – these loans rose by $3 billion, marking the 9th consecutive quarterly increase.  Click here…

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in July, 2024 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 739k, which is 10.6% higher than June’s revised rate and is 5.6% higher than one year ago.  The median sales price of new houses sold in June was $429,800 with an average sales price of $514,800.  There were an estimated 462k new houses for sale at the end of June representing a 7.5-month supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were up 1.3% in July to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million – down 2.5% year over year.  Total housing inventory at the end of July was 1.33 million units, up 0.8% from June and up 19.8% from one year ago.  Unsold inventory sits at a 4-month supply at the current sales rate with properties remaining on the market for around 24 days.  The median existing-home price for all housing types in July was $422,600.  However, the NAR says affordability is improving, but sales are still sluggish; “Despite…

We posted about this last month, but today’s graphic from Keeping Current Matters perfectly illustrates it (again!);  For the 12th year in a row, more Americans prefer real estate over other long-term investment vehicles for growing wealth.  Indeed….  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to Keeping Current Matters.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently released an advisory opinion and research report on a form of home seller financing that is often referred to as contract for deed.  The CFPB says their advisory opinion and report are part of their effort to rid the market of what they say are predatory & exclusionary home lending practices.  Stay tuned… “Contracts for deed – also called “land contracts,” “installment land contracts,” “land sales contracts,” or “bonds for deed” – typically cover the purchase of homes. They are structured such that the seller retains the legal title to a home until…

Here’s an interesting report we’ve never posted about.  Yardi recently started a new report about the RV & boat storage sector, drawing on their database of nearly 2k, dedicated RV & boat storage properties and more than 15k traditional self storage properties that offer parking for rent. According to the report, advertised rental rates for parking units have grown incrementally since February but were down 0.4% year-over-year in June 2024, as demand for new RV and boat sales dropped after annual new supply reached an 18-year high last year. However, they say the sector has outperformed traditional self storage, where…

We have has several posts about the growing trend of more and more young people “staying in the nest” and not striking out on their own.  A recent report from Apartment List says more young adults are now living with their parents since 1940.  They say young adults who live at home today are also more likely to be there out of necessity rather than choice, with their data showing fewer than one-in-five are earning incomes that would allow them to comfortably afford local rent prices.  Indeed… Moving out of one’s parents’ house is often thought of as a key…

The American Land Title Association says seller impersonation fraud attempts continue to increase as 28% of title companies experienced at least one of these incidents in 2023, according to their recent study.  Interestingly, they point out that seller impersonation fraud often is caught before the real estate closing is completed. Their study showed that in 2023, 46% of companies said identifying and preventing fraudulent transactions before closing was at least somewhat common. To compare, only 26% of companies reported it was somewhat common to catch the fraud after closing. Common characteristics of seller impersonation fraud include notarization issues and use…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in July, 2024 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,238,000, which is 6.8% lower than June’s revised number and is 16% lower than one year ago.  July’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 363k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,396,000, which is 4% lower than June’s revised number and 7% lower than one year ago.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 408k in…

We recently posted about the nation’s GDP was up 2.8% in Q2, 2024.  The NAHB’s Eye on Housing took a deeper dive into the numbers to reveal that housing’s share of the economy stayed level at 16.1% in the Q2, 2024 and remained above 16% after staying constant at 15.9% for all of 2023.  In addition, the more cyclical home building and remodeling component, residential fixed investment (RFI), was 4.0% of GDP, level from 4.0% in Q1, 2024.  RFI subtracted 5 basis points from the headline GDP growth rate in the second quarter of 2024, marking the first negative contributions…