Author: Brad Beckett

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices rose 18.7% from Q1 2021 to the first Q2 2022.  The seasonally adjusted monthly index for March was up 1.5% from February.  The FHFA produces the nation’s only public, freely available house price indexes (HPIs) that measure changes in single-family house prices based on data that cover all 50 states and over 400 American cities and extend back to the mid-1970s. “High appreciation rates continued across housing markets during the first quarter of 2022…Strong demand coupled with tight supply have kept prices climbing. Through…

There is a lot of misinformation out there about landlords and profit margins from their investments.  Today’s infographic from the National Apartment Association rightly calls supposedly large profit margins a “misconception” which is why they chose to explain where $1 of rent really goes.  Indeed……Stay safe & and have and Happy Friday!! Hat tip to the NAA.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 20.6% annual gain for March, 2022.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 19.5% and their 20-City Composite posted a 22.2% year-over-year gain.  March’s reading was the highest year-over-year price change in more than 35 years of data. “Mortgages are becoming more expensive as the Federal Reserve has begun to ratchet up interest rates, suggesting that the macroeconomic environment may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer. Although one can safely predict that price gains will begin to decelerate, the timing of the deceleration is…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their latest monthly National Rent Report showing that their median national rent for 1-bedroom apartments in May, 2022 was $1,414 (another all-time high), up 12.8% year-over-year and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,758 up 13.9%, year-over-year.  Be sure to check out their list of the top 100 metro areas. Click here to read the full report at Zumper.

As part of a three-part series, Omaha REIA’s “REIA Radio,” talked with National REIA’s Charles Tassell who shared valuable insights into legislation and how government involvement in regulating the real estate industry is affecting affordable housing. A successful investor himself, Tassell also shares smart ways to invest and how to get your children involved from an early age.  Ted is joined by Omaha’s very own Jeri Schlickbernd, who, along with her husband were featured in the Summer 2021 issue of the RE Journal. Click here to listen at Omaha REIA.

Who doesn’t love a good beach town?  And where there’s a beach town, there are general short-term rentals and other investment properties.  The folks over at Realtor.com recently crunched the numbers to come up with the nation’s most affordable beach towns where buyers “can live the dream without draining their bank accounts.”  To get their so-called dream list, they looked at the median home list prices of more than 1,300 towns located on America’s coastlines that had at least 30 homes for sale in April, 2022 (not including pending transactions).  Then, they focused on the fun things to do – …

You could say that sales taxes are the form of taxation that truly affects every person…it’s the classic consumption tax.  It is also the one politicians often ratchet-up to fund their next big “project du jour.”  That being said, the folks over at the Tax Foundation recently put together some numbers showing sales tax rankings from their 2022 State Business Tax Climate Index.  States that rank poorly have high sales tax rates, high excise tax rates, complicated sales tax administration, and apply the sales tax to a variety of business inputs while exempting many final consumer purchases. The states scoring…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales were down 3.9% in April, 2022.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) dropped to 99.3, down 3.9% month-pver-month.  Pending sales have now dropped for eleven consecutive months. “Pending contracts are telling, as they better reflect the timelier impact from higher mortgage rates than do closings…The latest contract signings mark six consecutive months of declines and are at the slowest pace in nearly a decade.”  Said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. Click here to read the full report at the National Association of…

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in April, 2022 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591k, which is 16.6% lower than March’s revised rate and is 26.9% lower than one year ago.  The median sales price of new houses sold in April was $450,600 with an average sales price of $570,300.  There were an estimated 444k new houses for sale at the end of April representing a 9-month supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Monday, May 30th is Memorial Day.  For most Americans the three-day weekend will mark the unofficial start of summer.  However, the solemn significance of the day is often forgotten.  It is actually a national day of remembrance for America’s military men & women who paid the ultimate sacrifice while defending freedom & liberty around the globe. Today’s infographic reminds us that Memorial Day is about more than just cookouts and 3-day weekends, it’s about a path paved by others to enjoy the freedoms we so often take for granted.  We hope you have a safe & happy Memorial Day weekend….and…