Author: Brad Beckett

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were down in September following two consecutive months of increases.  Total existing-home sales fell 2.2% from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.38 million in September.  The Realtors say that despite the decline, overall sales are up 3.9% from a year ago  However, once again, low inventory is the primary culprit: “We must continue to beat the drum for more inventory…Home prices are rising too rapidly because of the housing shortage, and this lack of inventory is preventing home sales growth potential.”  Said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s…

The U.S. government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in September, 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 701,000.  This figure is 0.7% below revised August’s revised rate but is 15.5% higher than September 2018 estimate of 607,000.  The median sales price of new houses sold in September 2019 was $299,400 and the average sales price was $362,700.  There were new 321k new houses for sale at the end of September was 321,000 representing a 5.5 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Halloween is next week and with that notion (or potion, if you will), the scary folks over at smartasset once again came up with their list of the top 25 cities in America for trick-or-treating.  To find these creepy places, they looked at housing density, housing stock, crime rates, percent of residents under 15 and weather.  Happy Halloween and Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to smartasset.

The NAHB’s Eye on Housing picked up on an interesting tidbit in the latest Federal Reserve G.19 Consumer Credit Report that shows rising trends in consumer credit, excluding loans secured by real estate, through August 2019.  They point out that most of the increase in this period also owed to the closed-ended credit extended by the federal government, which is also the largest component of nonrevolving debt which they say manifests most prominently in the form of student loans – a long-established barrier to homeownership.  Indeed… “This month’s percentage increase in nonrevolving debt is the largest increase that has occurred…

A new study says that as the demand for workforce housing is growing, so too is the demand for renting in manufactured-home communities (MHC).  Citing a recent study from Marcus & Millichap, the Scotsman Guide is reporting that this trend is being fueled by the relatively low price of renting in an MHC compared to the cost to rent an apartment.  They say that as a result of this demand, vacancies within MHCs are decreasing, causing rents to rise.  Indeed….A little Econ 101: “The shrinking vacancy rate is boosting rent growth nationwide, Marcus & Millichap reported, with manufactured-housing units in…

Recently we saw a garden shed apartment that was being rented out for over $1k per month, now we’ve learned from CNBC’s Diana Olick, that more & more homeowners are carving out revenue streams from their backyards by constructing auxiliary dwelling units (ADU).  So, what is this new real estate investing trend and how exactly does it work? Click here to read the full story at CNBC.com.

When you’re researching a property, have you ever wondered, “did someone ever die or get killed here???”  An eerie online site called DiedInHouse.com will, for a small fee, generate a report using millions of records to determine if a death occurred at any valid US address.  Their reports can also contain information about that death as well as any meth lab activity, fires or other data that might be available but unknown to potential buyers (or even the seller). According to an article on Forbes, the service was founded several years ago when its founder went searching for information after…

We have posted a lot about the growing segment of retiring baby-boomers and where/how they’re going to live.  A new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) says “housing inequality is becoming increasingly evident among older Americans as the number of older households climbs to unprecedented levels” and with that the requisite cost burden warnings.  However, they also remind us that between between 2012-2017, the number of households headed by someone 65+ grew from 27 million to 31 million.  And, as real estate investors know, they will all need a place to live – whether it’s a downsizing…

The good folks over at Realtor.com said that it seems like everyone is getting into real estate game or at least dreaming about it.  In fact, they remind everyone that it’s just not as easy as it looks on HGTV and that something called reality sets in.  That’s why their economics team crunched the numbers to find the hottest markets for investors – the ones with cities where the highest percentages of home sales are for flipping or turned into rentals, usually after a rehab. “To truly make bank in the housing investment game, you need to pick your markets…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,256,000.  This figure is 9.4% below August’s revised estimate but is 1.6% higher than September, 2018.  Single‐family housing starts in September were at a rate of 918k, which is 0.3% above August’s revised figure. September’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 327k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,387,000. This figure is 2.7% below August’s revised rate but is 7.7% higher than September, 2018.  Single‐family…