Author: Brad Beckett

Which cities have the best & worst drivers?  Conventional wisdom might say that would be hard to quantify but the folks over at QuoteWizard (part of lendingtree) gave it a shot.  They analyzed two million car insurance quotes from drivers in America’s 70 largest cities to come up with their list of cities with the best & worst drivers in America.  They looked at factors such as accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs and other misc traffic citations.  Cities having the most dangerous driving incidents are rated among the worst, while cities with the fewest are rated as the best.  Go figure……

Mortgage News Daily is reporting that after a few months of moderation lumber prices are once again soaring.  Citing data from the National Association of Home Builders, lumber prices have nearly tripled over the past four months, causing the price of an average new single-family home to increase by more than $18,600. In addition, recent increases have also added nearly $7,300 to the market value of the average new multifamily home. Click here to read the full story at Mortgage News Daily. Click here to see the latest lumber prices at the NAHB’s price tracker (updated weekly).

According according to a recent Redfin analysis of mortgage-rate lock data from real estate analytics firm Optimal Blue, demand for second homes remains well above pre-pandemic levels as affluent buyers continued to take advantage of remote work and low mortgage rates.  A mortgage-rate lock is an agreement between a homebuyer and a lender that allows the buyer to lock in an interest rate on a mortgage for a certain period of time, offering protection against future interest-rate hikes.  Homebuyers must specify whether they are applying to secure a mortgage rate for a primary home, a second home or an investment…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix Multifamily Report, the average U.S. multifamily rents in December increased $2 to $1,594 (13.5% year-over-year).  Encouragingly, Yardi says rent growth in2021 was more than double any previous year recorded by Matrix. “We anticipate that 2022 will be another strong year for multifamily performance, albeit not like the frenzied highs of 2021. Underpinning this forecast is that the economy should remain strong.” Click here to read the full report at Yardimatrix.com.

The Wall Street Journal says investors are buying up metaverse real estate in a “virtual land boom.”  It might be kind of hard to get your arms around what they’re talking about, however when you hear that millions of real dollars are being poured into virtual real estate it makes you wonder…..and it might make you want to learn more.  Indeed… “Real-estate transactions in the metaverse are reaching record highs. We spoke with companies investing in digital real estate to understand the economic model, and why investors are spending millions on virtual property.” Click here to watch on WSJ.com. …

According to U-Haul’s annual Growth Index, Texas edged-out Florida for the largest net gain of one-way U-Haul truck rentals in 2021 with California and Illinois seeing the greatest net losses.  The report says migration to southern states continues to be magnified by the lingering Covid-19 pandemic, and no other state netted more U-Haul customers than Texas  (barely beating Florida).  U-Haul’s growth states are calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a state versus leaving that state in a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from well over 2 million one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions that occur…

A recent CNBC report featured Jeff Tucker, senior economist at Zillow, where he discussed areas he expects to housing demand to boom in 2022, as well as those areas where it won’t.  He predicted the hottest markets will be in the SE United States.  Indeed… The hottest markets in 2022 are predicted to be: Tampa, FL Raleigh, NC Jacksonville, FL Atlanta Charlotte, NC Click here to watch on CNBC.com.

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Insights (HPI) report, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 18.1% year-over-year in November.  CoreLogic predicts that home prices will remain flat on a month-over-month basis  through December, 2021, and on a year-over-year basis by 2.8% through December, 2022. “Over the past year, we have seen one of the most robust seller’s markets in a generation. While increased interest rates may help cool down homebuying activity, we expect 2022 to be another strong year with continuing upward price growth.”   – Frank Martell  President and CEO of CoreLogic Click here to read the…

If you’re like many Americans, you might have a doorbell camera, a security system or maybe even a smart lock or two.  It’s a good piece of mind to have and great way to protect your property – not to mention your home & family!  Today’s graphic from Statista takes a look at the approximate household penetration (worldwide) of smart home security products….and it’s only going up.  Happy 2022, stay healthy and have a Happy Friday! Hat tip to Statista.

Recently in HousingWire, Altos Research founder Mike Simonsen said there are three important predictions about the strength of the 2022 housing market.  He asked whether the market will continue its streak of strong growth, or are will we finally see a slow down?  In that vein he put out a “high-level forecast” for what to expect to see in 2022, based on the supply and demand signals seen in recent data. He also highlights which variables we should be watching for unexpected market shifts.  Indeed… “As we look towards 2022, all the leading indicators show tight inventory and strong demand…