Author: Brad Beckett

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Insights (HPI) report, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 18% year-over-year in October.  CoreLogic predicts that home prices will increase on a month-over-month basis by 0.2% through November, 2021, and on a year-over-year basis by 2.5% through November, 2022. “New household formation, investor purchases and pandemic-related factors driving demand for the limited supply of available for-sale homes continues to propel the upward spiral of U.S. home prices. However, we expect home price growth to moderate over the near term as many buyers take a break for the holidays.”  -Frank Martell, President and…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was 0.8% in November, 2021.  However, the all items index rose 6.8% for the 12 months ending November, the largest 12-month increase since 1982. Click here to read the full release at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The American Christmas Tree Association wants you to find the best Christmas tree for your family this holiday season.  Today’s infographic spells out some good advice for making that happen.  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the American Christmas Tree Association.

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) says that 77.1% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by December 6th, 2021.  This figure is 1.7% higher than those who paid rent through December 6, 2020.  The data comes from the NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker which uses data from 11.8 million professionally managed apartment units across the country – representing a wide variety of market-rate rental properties that can vary by size, type and average rental price. Click here to read more at the NMHC.

According to recent data from the Associated General Contractors of America, construction employment increased by 31k jobs in November, 2021 with 10,300 jobs added in residential and 20,800 in the nonresidential categories.  The AGC said construction firms would have added even more jobs if they could find more qualified workers with many firms reporting an increasing number of unfilled positions. “It is heartening to see steady job growth across all construction segments following a long period during which only residential contractors were adding employees…But record job openings show the industry needs still more workers as more types of nonresidential projects…

New data from Black Knight shows that the number of forbearance plans at the end of November was down by 214k (-17%) from last month.  However, they point out that new plan starts, which have been relatively flat since the end of March, jumped almost 8k week over week.  Black Knight says this figure will will bear closer scrutiny in coming weeks to determine whether this is an anomaly or an inflection point. Click here to read the full report at Black Knight.

We’ve been seeing record-high home prices for quite some time being attributed to low inventory and now a recent report from Redfin confirms it;  the number of homes for sale hit an all-time low at the end of November.  Redfin says this foretells a difficult winter for homebuyers.  Indeed… “The number of homes for sale typically declines another 15% in December…That means that by the end of the year, there will likely be 100,000 fewer homes for sale than there were in February when housing supply last hit rock bottom…”  Said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. Click here to read…

In late November a housing court in Boston, Massachusetts struck down Boston’s citywide eviction moratorium calling the ban an “overreach of power.”  According to WBTS TV (Ch 7), Housing Court Judge Irene Bagdoian sided with a landlord and a constable who challenged the moratorium that the former Acting Mayor Kim Janey imposed in August.  The ruling says that the Boston Public Health Commission does not wield legal authority to circumvent state law governing evictions.  The Judge said that Massachusetts’ Legislature and not Boston’s health officials must decide whether to implement “temporary exemptions” to the law.  Reportedly, the current Mayor is…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in October was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,598 billion, which is down 0.2% from September’s revised estimate.  However, October’s figure is 8.6% higher than one year ago.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $774.7 billion in October, which is 0.5% lower than September’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 19.5% annual gain for September, 2021, which they say is a record high.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 17.8% and their 20-City Composite posted a 19.1% year-over-year gain. “We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven by households’ reaction to the COVID pandemic, as potential buyers move from urban apartments to suburban homes. More data will be required to understand whether this demand surge represents simply an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred over the next several…