Author: Brad Beckett

A recent report from RENTCafé says that thanks to an all-time high in conversions, yesterday’s factories are today’s Apartments.  The report says that of the nearly 2k buildings converted over the last 70 years, 800 were done in the last decade alone.  Interestingly, they say point out that old factories are the all-time most popular type of building to be converted into rentals.  To come up with their data, they used the Yardi Matrix to reveal where these projects were most common as well as their previous use.  Indeed… “The U.S. has its fair share of beautiful old buildings —…

According to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, the rate of home price increases reported a 4.8% annual gain in July, 2020.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 3.3% and the 20-City Composite posted a 3.9% year-over-year gain.  The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are one of the leading measures of U.S. residential real estate prices, tracking changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally as well as in 20 metropolitan regions. “In previous months, we’ve noted that a trend of accelerating increases in the National Composite Index began…

According to Black Knight’s “first look” report for August, 2020, an improvement in early-stage delinquencies was offset by a 5% increase in serious delinquencies (those 90+ days past due) which have now risen in each of the past five months.  Black Knight says that overall, the national delinquency rate fell just 0.03 basis points from July after declining a combined 0.85 basis points over the prior two months, which they say is a “noticeable slowing in the rate of improvement.”  In addition, they point out that there are nearly 2 million more seriously delinquent homeowners than at pre-pandemic levels, however…

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices were up 1% in July and were up 6.5% 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…

Are you a landlord trying to come to terms with all the eviction moratoriums that are gripping the industry?  On a recent episode of the Rent Perfect Podcast, David Pickron discusses how during a time of no evictions, collections could be your ultimate solution.  His guest is Don Darnell from US Collections West who adds his professional expertise and insight to this timely conversation. “The CDC Eviction Moratorium is forcing landlords to stay afloat in unprecedented ways, even if that means turning your tenants over to collections.” Click here to listen at BuzzSprout.com. Rent Perfect is the solution rental…

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in August, 2020 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,011,000, which is 4.8% higher than July’s revised rate, and is 43.2% higher than one year ago.  The median sales price of new houses sold in August was $312,800 with an average sales price of $369k.  There were an estimated 282k new houses for sale at the end of August representing a 3.3-month supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Howmuch.net says it’s no secret the US economy is powered by our nation’s big cities.  Today’s infographic takes a look at how important these metros areas are to the national GDP.  Stay safe and Happy Friday!!! “It remains to be seen exactly how the coronavirus will impact the American economy as tech workers who can do their jobs from anywhere consider moving to cheaper locations.” Hat tip to howmuch.net.

A recent Wall Street Journal article (reposted on Realtor.com) explores the recent phenomenon that millions of homeowners are “house-rich but cash-poor,” thanks to high levels of equity in their homes.  However, as the article points out, this situation could be a boon for big single-family rental investors as owners have either fallen behind on their loans, are at risk of doing so or want to cash out while the market is in their favor. “A lot of people are house-rich but cash-poor,” said Ivy Zelman, chief executive of real-estate consultant Zelman & Associates. “If they bought in the last two…

We’ve had several posts about the self storage industry over the past few years.  Now comes a recent report form RentCafé (analyzing the 100 largest markets) that says although inventory is high and rates are lower, demand is keeping the industry strong.  RentCafé says the U.S. currently has over 1.4 billion square feet of self storage space, of which 190 million square feet, or 13%, were built within the past five years, which has lowered rent costs.  The average national rent for a 10X10, non-climate-controlled unit (non-CC) was $113 in July. “The sustained property development activity in the self storage…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales jumped 2.4% in August to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6 million (10.5% higher than one year ago).  Total housing inventory at the end of August was 1.49 million units, down 0.7% from July and down 18.6% from one year ago.  Total unsold inventory was at a 3-month supply at the current sales pace with properties remaining on the market for around 22 days. The median existing-home price for all housing types was $310,600, up 11.4% from August, 2019. “Home sales continue to amaze, and there are plenty of…