Author: Brad Beckett

We love posting about that elusive cohort known as the millennial generation.  A recent Wall Street Journal article (reposted on Realtor.com) suggests that millennials, who have been viewed as perennial renters, are now emerging as a “driving force” in the housing market’s recovery.  Interestingly, they point out that, last year, millennials accounted for more than half of all new home loans and were consistently above that level in the first few months of 2020.  Indeed… “Millennials, they’re roaring into homebuying age,” said Rick Arvielo, chief executive of mortgage lender New American Funding. “What the industry’s been talking about for a…

Realtor.com says Tarek El Moussa has come a long way since his much publicized divorce from Christina – in fact, they say he has reinvented his life.   Well, ok then.  So what are Tarek’s seven biggest flops from his “Flipping 101” TV show?  As you can imagine, the list includes kitchens, bathrooms and bad wallpaper.  Indeed… Click here to read the full story at Realtor.com.

While Labor Day weekend traditionally marks the unofficial end of Summer, the Coronavirus has made 2020 a year like no other.  We sincerely hope you were able to enjoy this past summer season and whatever good weather it has left.  The U.S. Department of Labor says: “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” Since the pandemic has dampened this year’s…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in September was $1,109 with two-bedroom units coming in at $1,358.  ABODO says apartment prices continued to exhibit sleepy upward movement.  Indeed… “There are some hopeful signs that the pandemic is easing in some parts of the country, and the much-anticipated vaccine seems to be moving to fruition. That said, even if the virus disappeared tomorrow, we still see a stable apartment rental market because we just do not foresee things returning to normal for a while.” ABODO uses over 1 million listings across…

Bloomberg is reporting that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to temporarily halt residential evictions nationwide for individuals earning less than $99k/year to prevent the Coronavirus from spreading, according to an unnamed senior administration official.  Bloomberg says the government is using its quarantine authority to “keep renters in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to prevent an eviction crisis that could worsen economic strains.”   As this is a developing story, National REIA is closing following the issue and will keep members apprised. “National REIA is extremely concerned about the development of this new…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in July was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,364.6 billion, which is 0.1% above than June’s revised estimate.  However, July’s figure was 0.1% lower than July, 2019.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $546.6 billion in July, which is 2.1% higher than June’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at Census.gov.

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for September, 2020 showing that their median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,233 (same as August) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,490 (down 0.3%).   Year to date, both one- and two-bedroom rent were up 0.7%.  Interestingly, Zumper says 9 out of 10 of the most expensive cities accelerated their year-over-year declines – thanks to out-migration.  Indeed… “Despite significant price drops sustained thus far, the the nation’s most expensive rental markets do not appear to be slowing down in their decline as COVID-19 continues to keep Americans moving out…

The NAHB’s Eye on Housing recently took a look at multifamily construction data from the U.S. Census Bureau to reveal that market share of multifamily construction starts increased to 96% during Q2, 2020.  Breaking that down further, there were just 3k condo multifamily unit starts, however there were 76k rental apartment starts. In addition, they point out that condo construction has been weak since the end of the Great Recession. Click here to read the full report at the NAHB’s Eye on Housing.

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in July, 2020 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901k, which is 13.9% higher than June’s revised rate, and is 36.3% higher than one year ago.  The median sales price of new houses sold in July was $330,600 with an average sales price of $391,300.  There were an estimated 299k new houses for sale at the end of July representing a 4-month supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales jumped 5.9% in July – marking three consecutive months of increases.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) rose to 122.1 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 15.5%.  Indeed…. “We are witnessing a true V-shaped sales recovery as homebuyers continue their strong return to the housing market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Home sellers are seeing their homes go under contract in record time, with nine new…