Author: Brad Beckett

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) says that 79.3% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by August 6th.  This figure represents a 1.9 percentage point decrease in the share who paid rent through August 6, 2019 and compares to 77.4% that paid by July 6th.  The  data comes from the NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker which uses data from 11.4 million professionally managed apartment units across the country. Click here to read the full report at NMHC.com. Click here to view the NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker.

According to the latest Yardi Matrix Multifamily Report, the average U.S. rent in July was $1,460 up $2 from June with year-over-year, rent growth remaining at -0.3%.   They point out that gateway markets continued their steep year-over-year declines, with San Jose (-5.0%) and San Francisco (-4.1%) leading the way. This is a stark contrast from last July, when rents in San Jose grew by 2.0% and rents in San Francisco grew by 2.8%.  However…. “In the short term, month-over-month rents showed signs of improvement in July, with 25 of the top 30 markets performing better in July than June, although…

According to government data, over 61 million Americans live with a disability.  Today’s infographic from the U.S. Census Bureau breaks down the number of Americans with a disability by age, sex and type.  Per the CDC, a disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions).  Indeed…. Stay safe and Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to data from a Redfin buyers survey, almost half (45%) of recent homebuyers made an offer on a home without ever seeing it in person.  Redfin says this is the highest level since 2015 and is being fueled by health concerns from the pandemic as well as a continuing shortage of available housing.  In fact, they expect these “sight-unseen” offers to grow.  Indeed… “I predict that by the end of the 2020 homebuying season, the majority of homebuyers will have made a sight-unseen offer…The pandemic has changed the way many people view homes, and on top of that, the…

Last week we posted the numbers from the Census Bureau’s Residential Vacancies and Homeownership report.  Armed with that data, the number crunchers at the National Association of Realtors’ Economist Blog took a deep dive into those numbers and broke them down to get a better look.  First off, America’s homeownership rate increased to 67.9% (up nearly 4 percentage points from one year ago) which they say is partially attributable to low mortgage rates, however there is more…. Some key findings: Q2 2020’s homeownership rate was 67.9%, up from 64.1% in Q2 2019 and up from 65.3% in Q1 2020. The…

The NAHB’s Eye on Housing is reporting that Housing’s contribution to America’s GDP hit its highest level since Q3 2007, increasing to 16.2% in Q2 2020.  In fact, they say that “housing will lead the economic recovery” and pointed out that housing services alone represented 12.9% of the U.S. economy or $2.2 trillion on seasonally adjusted annual basis.  Indeed… “Due to low mortgage interest rates, a renewed focus on the importance of home, and a lack of for-sale inventory, housing data has been a relative bright spot as the overall economy struggles to establish a rebound.” Click here to read…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in June was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,355.2 billion, which is 0.7% lower than May’s revised estimate.  However, June’s figure was 0.1% higher than June, 2019.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $534.2 billion in June, which is 1.5% lower than May’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at Census.gov.

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in August was $1,107 with two-bedroom units coming in at $1,358.  ABODO says that, for the most part, rent is remaining flat and August’s data reinforces that trend.  Indeed… “Landlords seem happy to just collect rent, and we believe that rent increases have been put on the back burner because as we have mentioned before, some rent is better than no rent at all.” ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state,…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for August, 2020 showing that their median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,233 (up 0.3%) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,493 (up 0.6%).   Year to date, one-bedroom rent was up 0.7% and two-bedroom rents were up 1%.  Zumper says median rents continue to “tick up” during this summer moving season.  Indeed… “In stark contrast to the nation’s most expensive cities, median rents in less expensive cities have been steadily increasing. Of the top 10 least expensive cities in the 100 tracked in this report, only one city, Tulsa,…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales surged 16.6% in June – marking two consecutive months of increases.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) rose to 116.1 with every major region experiencing an increase in month-over-month contract activity.  In addition, they reported that year-over-year contract signings were up 6.3%.  Indeed…. “It is quite surprising and remarkable that, in the midst of a global pandemic, contract activity for home purchases is higher compared to one year ago,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Consumers are taking advantage of record-low mortgage…