Author: Brad Beckett

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices were up 1.1% in December and up 10.8% from one year ago.  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,…

Last spring, the Covid-19 pandemic brought America’s real estate market to a virtual standstill.  Roofstock reminds us that location still matters and that despite record-low inventory, demand is extremely strong in areas of the West & Southwest that are also experiencing high rates of population growth, as we have seen in other posts.  In that vein, their recent report highlights the top cities where homes are selling the fastest.  Indeed… “As time has gone on, however, demand in the real estate market has picked up in a dramatic way. With the transition to working and schooling from home, families are…

Home price increases in Opportunity Zones are keeping pace with trends, according to a special report from ATTOM Data that analyzed qualified low-income O-Zones.  ATTOM says in Q4 2020, median prices rose annually in three-quarters of Opportunity Zones with values in 2/3 of them going up at least 10%.  To get their data ATTOM looked at 3,588 O-Zones around the country with sufficient sales data to analyze. https://www.attomdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Q4-2020-Opportunity-Zones-Report.mp4 Click here read the full report at ATTOM Data Solutions.

With the goal of “keeping families in their homes,” the U.S. Department of the Treasury says the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA) makes available $25 billion to assist households that are unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  As previously reported, these funds are provided directly to States, Territories, local governments, and Indian tribes. Grantees can use these funds to provide assistance to eligible households through existing or newly created rental assistance programs.  In addition, eligible households may receive up to 12 months of assistance, plus an additional 3 months if the grantee determines the extra…

We’ve posted a lot of stories about the exodus from our nation’s urban cores to the suburbs.  With that in mind a recent story from Reuters about millennials searching for homes in “far-flung places” should have flippers & rehabbers taking note.  According to the Reuters, a new startup called CheapOldHouses.com promotes the purchase & preservation of historical houses across America, most of which come in under $100k and contain unique and interesting architectural detail.  Their site says they search nationwide real estate listings daily to handpick the “most beautiful of the bunch.”  Indeed… “More millennials may leave big cities even…

John Burns Real Estate Consulting recently released their 2021 Apartment Rent Forecasts which they say will to help you “weather” the shifts in the apartment market.  They analyzed 127 metros across the country by taking a look at four key categories: Boomburgs (suburban growth) Braintowns (college towns) Downtowns (urban) Dependables (sizeable unemployment) “We see a positive long-term future for apartments, just on varying timelines, depending on their unique locations and attributes. But in a year where the for-sale market dominated the headlines, let’s not forget that one-third of the population resides in rental housing, and the long-term future for that…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were up 0.6% in January to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million (up 23.7% from one year ago).  Total housing inventory at the end of January was 1.04 million units, down 1.9% from December and down 25.7% from one year ago.  Unsold inventory sits at a 1.9-month supply at the current sales pace with properties remaining on the market for around 21 days. The median existing-home price for all housing types was $303,900, up 14.%% from January, 2020.  Once again, the culprit is low inventory: “Home sales continue…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,580,000, which is 6% below December’s revised number.  January’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 402k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,881,000, which was 10.4% higher than December’s revised number.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 557k in January. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Today’s infographic from Statista reminds us that out of all the media that is used to reach customers, radio still comes out on top.  In fact, citing data from Nielsen, on any given week radio reaches 91% of the U.S. population.  Indeed…Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! “According to Nielsen’s measurements, far more than 200 million Americans aged 18 and older listen to the radio at least once a week, equaling a reach of 91 percent of the adult population. Smartphones and television share second place, both reaching 85 percent of U.S. adults in any given week.” Hat tip…

The DC-based group US Housing Consultants recently released a short analysis of HUD’s recent decision to enforce the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity.  The stated goal of this organization is to “help to ensure that your properties are always in compliance.”  Indeed… On February 11, 2021, HUD announced in a memo that the HUD FHEO office will administer and fully enforce the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity.  This memo was issued to implement Executive Order 13988 on “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis…