Author: Brad Beckett

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices rose .2% in November as well as being up 4.9% from November 2018. 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…

Is it better to buy or rent?  That’s an age-old question that really depends on a lot of variables – especially an individual’s station in life.  In their recent 2020 Rental Affordability Report, ATTOM Data crunched the numbers to show that owning a median-priced, three-bedroom home is more affordable than renting a three-bedroom property in 455 (53%) of  855 U.S. counties analyzed for their report.  Specifically, they looked at recently released fair market rent data for 2020 from HUD, wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics along with public record sales deed data from ATTOM Data Solutions in 855…

Saturday, January 25th, 2020 is Chinese New Year – the year of the rat and a year of new beginnings!  The contributions of Chinese-Americans to the rich fabric of this country have been incredible.  If you’re fortunate enough to live in an area of the country with a sizeable population of ethnic Chinese, be sure to find & join in the celebrations….And of course, Happy Friday….and Happy Chinese New Year! Hat tip to the chinesezodiac.org.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were up 3.6% in December, increasing to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.54 million.  In addition they report that overall sales were up 10.8% from one year ago.  The median existing-home price for all housing types was $274,500, up 7.8% from December, 2018.  November’s price increase marks 94 straight months of year-over-year gains.  Total housing inventory at the end of December was 1.40 million units, down 14.6% from November and 8.5% from one year ago. Total unsold inventory was at a 3.0-month supply at the current sales pace with…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, the average U.S. rent fell $1 in December to $1,474, with the growth rate falling 10 basis points from November. However, Yardi points out that U.S. multifamily rents finished 2019 up 3.0% with year-over-year growth remaining between 3.0% and 3.3% for the entire year. “Fundamentally, the market is sound, with no red flags on the immediate horizon. Despite deliveries of roughly 300,000 units for the year, the occupancy rate for stabilized properties was 94.9% as of November, down only 10 basis points over the last year. The healthy job market, averaging 180,000 new jobs…

The  National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) recently released their top five lawn & landscape trends for 2020. According to the report, they tapped into the expertise of landscape professionals from across the country to predict design & maintenance trends that will create healthy and beautiful green spaces across America.  The NALP represents an industry that employs nearly 1 million landscape, lawn care, irrigation and tree care professionals who create and maintain healthy green spaces for the benefit of society and the environment.  Indeed… “Foundational landscape elements remain on homeowners’ wish lists, but modern updates and technology are now a…

According to the Real Deal, Airbnb is gearing up to host over 34k bookings (so far) in South Florida during the upcoming Super Bowl 54 weekend.  By comparison, last year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta had less than half of that number.  In addition, they report that Airbnb’s average daily rate in Miami-Dade & Broward counties during the Super Bowl weekend is currently $120 and $150 – which they say is more affordable that hotel rates.  Indeed… “Airbnb hosts have already picked up more than 34,000 bookings for the weekend of Super Bowl LIV, Jan. 30 to Feb. 2. That tops…

As we have previously posted, Cincinnati recently became the first city in the nation to require landlords to accept so-called security deposit insurance in lieu of an actual security deposit.  On a recent episode of Neil Cavuto’s Coast to Coast, National REIA’s Charles Tassell discusses Cincinnati’s new rental deposit law and how it is very similar to a pay-day loan – which could ultimately end up doing more harm than good.  Click on the image below to watch the interview. Click here to watch on FOXBusiness.com.

The pest control and rodent removers at Orkin recently released their annual Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list.  Topping their list this year is Washington, D.C.  Orkin’s list is based on treatment data (residential & commercial) from metro areas where they performed the most bed bug treatments from 12/1/18 through 11/30/19. “The key to preventing a bed bug infestation is early detection,” Hartzer said. “When one or more bed bugs enter a space, we call it an introduction. During an introduction, bed bugs probably haven’t started reproducing yet, but they could soon. Vigilance is key to stopping bed bugs before…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,608,000.  This figure is 16.9% higher than November’s revised estimate and is 40.8% above one year ago.  Single‐family housing starts in December were at a rate of 1,055,000, which is 11.2% higher than November.  December’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 536k.  In addition, for 2019 there were an estimated 1,289,800 housing units were started which is 3.2% higher than 2018.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual…