Author: Brad Beckett

Redfin is reporting that the median home sale price increased 14% year over year to $319,769, which they say is not only the highest on record but the largest increase since August, 2013.  Their data is based on housing markets in 434 U.S. metro areas during a 4-week period that ended on September 27th.  Indeed… Among their key findings: Pending home sales climbed 30% year over year. New listings of homes for sale were up 5% from a year earlier. Active listings fell 28% from 2019 to a new all-time low. 45.8% of homes that went under contract had an…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in October was $1,111 with two-bedroom units coming in at $1359.  However, despite the slight increases ABODO says the Coronavirus pandemic has brought economic disaster to many small businesses.  Indeed… “Rents aren’t going up because landlords are reticent to raise rents because of the pandemic. People still need a place to live and evictions have been dampened by federal and local regulations and laws. Even if tenants aren’t currently paying, landlords may not be able to evict, and therefore there is not any rent…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for October, 2020 showing that their median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,231 (down 0.1%) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,489 (down 0.1%).   Year to date, one-bedrooms were up 0.6% and two-bedroom rent were up 0.7%.  Zumper says expensive cities continued to decrease in rental prices, with yearly drops largely led by the nation’s seven most expensive cities: San Francisco, New York, Boston, San Jose, Oakland, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.  Indeed… “Decreases in these cities and other expensive markets contributed to the continued trend of historically expensive…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in August was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,412.8 billion, which is 1.4% above than July’s revised estimate.  In addition, August’s figure was 2.5% higher than August, 2019.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $589.4 billion in August, which is 3.7% higher than July’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at Census.gov.

National Fire Prevention Week runs October 4-10th, 2020 and one of the best ways to celebrate is to check all your properties’ smoke alarms for functionality and age.  If you have one that’s over than 10 years old, that means it’s time to replace it!  And when you do, National REIA recommends both ionization and photoelectric technologies be used in all your properties.  You should also have a working & tested carbon monoxide detector and fire extinguisher in each unit as well.  In this case, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure…as well as saving lives!  As…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales jumped 8.8% in August – marking four consecutive months of increases!  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) rose to 132.8 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 24.2%. “While I did very much expect the housing sector to be stable during the pandemic-induced economic shutdowns, I am pleasantly surprised to see the industry bounce back so strongly and so quickly.”  Said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. Click here…

What is the median household income in every state?  That’s an important question for investors seeking new markets or tracking current ones.  The U.S. Census Bureau recently put together an interactive map (using the most recent data available) where you can drill down into more information about household income.  Just click on the map below to make it interactive. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

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…