Author: Brad Beckett

“Say it ain’t so, Joe”…..The Biden Administration said Tuesday afternoon that the CDC’s rental eviction moratorium would be resurrected in some manner or form, and true to his word, later in the day the CDC announced its new eviction moratorium, which is set to expire on October, 3, 2021.  According to FOX Business, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention crafted a new eviction moratorium aimed at protecting tenants in counties with “substantial and high levels of community transmission” of COVID-19.   In addition, they reported that the AP says that over 90% of the U.S. population lives in…

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices were up 1.7% in May and up 18% from May, 2020.  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.  The FHFA’s HPIs are built on tens of millions of home sales and offer insights about home price fluctuations at the levels of the nation, census division, state, metro area, county, ZIP code, and…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their latest monthly National Rent Report showing that their median national rent for 1-bedroom apartments in July was $1,407 (up 7%) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,787 (up 8.7%).  Be sure to check out their list of the top 100 metro areas. Click here to read the full report at Zumper.

On the heels of the expiration of the CDC’s nationwide eviction ban (which expired 7/31/21), President Joe Biden called on the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs to extend each of their individual eviction bans as well as urging Congress to pass last-minute legislation to extend the eviction moratorium.  As we now know, Congressional Democrats’ vote count fell far short of what they needed as well as resistance coming from moderates and housing industry groups.  According to HousingWire: “The same day, more than a dozen real estate trade associations sent a letter to the Senate,…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales were down 1.9% in June, 2021.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) fell to 112.8.  In addition, they report that year-over-year contract signings were also down 1.9%.  They say the moderate slowdown is largely due to huge spike in home prices.  Indeed… “Pending sales have seesawed since January, indicating a turning point for the market…Buyers are still interested and want to own a home, but record-high home prices are causing some to retreat.”  [HOWEVER] “The Midwest region offers the most affordable costs…

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates for Q2, 2021 were 6.2% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing.  The national homeownership rate for Q2, 2021 was 65.4%.  In addition, approximately 89% of the housing units in the United States in Q2 were occupied and 11% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 58.2% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.8% of the inventory. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

This weekend several states across the fruited-plain will be kicking off sales tax holidays for the back to school season.  Whether you think this is good or bad public policy is irrelevant;  the bottom-line is saving your hard-earned money!  Each year, The folks over at the Tax Foundation put together a handy chart showing which states are holding sales tax holidays as well as any threshold limits.  Be sure to check out their complete list for all states and their exemption’s “fine-print.”  As always, stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the Tax Foundation.

On a recent episode of Rent Perfect podcast David Pickron asks landlords nationwide to consider three important items before they decide if it’s time to sell. “If you don’t have a place to go, don’t sell”  David Pickron Rent Perfect is the solution rental property owners & managers have been crying out for! Their Online Lease Agreement allows you to send your tenant(s) a customized lease agreement, electronically & securely. They offer the most accurate & thorough credit & background screening available. Members of National REIA receive a discounted set up fee. Click here to watch on YouTube.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 16.6% annual gain for May, 2021.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 16.4% and their 20-City Composite posted a 17% year-over-year gain. “We have previously suggested that the strength in the U.S. housing market is being driven in part by reaction to the COVID pandemic, as potential buyers move from urban apartments to suburban homes.  May’s data continue to be consistent with this hypothesis. This demand surge may simply represent an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred anyway over the next several years. Alternatively, there…

The NAHB’s Eye on Housing says that median lot sizes remained low in 2020.  According to their data, the median lot size of a new single-family detached home sold in 2020 is 8,306 square feet, or just under one-fifth of an acre.  They point out that this is slightly larger but statistically not different from the lowest on record median of 8,177 square feet – which was set one year ago.  Interestingly, the share of smaller lots, under 0.16 acres, is now record high at 39%. “The fact that lots remained in the record low territory during the pandemic-triggered suburban…