Author: Brad Beckett

What are the average salaries needed to live “comfortably” in each state? How about the number of hours you need to work each week?  Those are some interesting questions that the folks at GOBankingRates set out to discover.  They crunched the numbers from all 50 states, looking at each one’s median hourly wage to get the total number of hours needed to work to cover expenses, nonessential items and savings.   They then ask, can you earn enough to cover your bills and have money left over to pay for extras and save for the future?  Their list starts with the…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in November was $1,078 and $1,343 for two-bedrooms.   ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and then track the month-over-month percentage change. To avoid small sample sizes, they restrict their analysis to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds. Be sure to check out their extensive city list. Click here to read the full report at ABODO.com.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales decreased 1.7% in October, which they attribute to the decline in inventory and a small rise in mortgage rates in October from September.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) decreased to 106.7 in October, down 1.7% from September. In addition, they reported that year-over-year contract signings were up 4.4%. “We risk a lingering shortage of sufficient inventory if homebuilding only continues at its current pace over the next 20 years, when the U.S. population is projected to increase by more than 40…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for December, 2019 showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,230 (down 0.9%) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,465 (down 1%).  Year to date, one bedroom prices are up 1.8% and two bedroom prices are up 1.7%.  Zumper analyzes rental data from over 1 million active listings across the United States. Data is aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. The report is based…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in October was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of f $1,291.1 billion, which is 0.8% below September’s revised number.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $508.2 billion in October.  That figure is 0.9% lower than September’s revised figure. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in October, 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 733,000.  This figure is 0.7% below revised September’s revised rate but is 31.6% higher than October, 2018’s figure.  The median sales price of new houses sold in October was $316,700 and the average sales price was $383,300.  There were new 321k new houses for sale at the end of September was 322,000 representing a 5.3 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

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 3.2% annual gain in September.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 1.5% and the 20-City Composite posted a 2.1% 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. “September’s report for the U.S. housing market is reassuring,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head…

Water heaters…they’re either a potential time-bomb in that flip you just bought or an old friend in your basement.  However, if you ever need to replace one, what do you replace it with?  The good folks at The Home Depot put together this handy graphic to help comprehend and discover the best solution for your situation…..Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the Home Depot.

Saving for retirement is on the minds of most Americans, however what that retirement looks like and how much it costs varies across the nation.  The folks over at howmuch.net say that some parts of the country are “friendlier on the wallet” than others when it comes to retirement. In fact, recent data they’ve researched shows the the average amount of money a retiree will need to retire “comfortably” in all 50 states as well as the average age of retirement.  Indeed…. “Taking into account life expectancy as well as yearly expenses, the average savings required for retirement in the…

The NAHB’s Eye on Housing is reporting that new data from the Census’ Housing Vacancies and Homeownership Survey (CPS/HVS) says minority homeownership increased in Q3 2019 to 48.3 percent, up 0.9 percentage points from the third quarter of 2018.  In addition, they point out that the year-over-year gain for this indicator is higher than the gain in the overall U.S. homeownership rate, which rose 0.4 percentage points to 64.8% in the third quarter of 2019.  In comparison, white homeownership grew by 0.3 percentage points to 73.4% in Q3 (from 73.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018) and has not…