Author: Brad Beckett

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales were up 5.2% in January with the NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) increasing to 108.8.  In addition, they reported that year-over-year contract signings were up 5.7%.  However, the lack of inventory is still a large factor for future sales: “We are still lacking in inventory,” he said, noting December’s and January’s combined supply was at the lowest level since 1999. “Inventory availability will be the key to consistent future gains.  Said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. Click here to read the full…

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in January, 2020 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 764k,  which is 7.9%  higher than December’s revised rate and is 18.6% above the January, 2019.  The median sales price of new houses sold in January was $348,200 and the average sales price was $402,300.  There were an estimated 324k new houses for sale at the end of January representing a 5.1 months at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at Census.gov.

Local Market Monitor, a National REIA preferred vendor, recently released their monthly National Economic Outlook where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook By Ingo Winzer February 28, 2020- The corona epidemic in China is disrupting manufacturing for many products and will cause companies to rethink their supply chains. A wholesale transplantation of manufacturing jobs back to the US is unlikely, however, because the allure of cheaper labor is just too great when making products that have a large labor input; diversification among several low-cost countries is probably the answer instead. For…

Earlier in the week we looked at some interesting mobility data from the Census Bureau.  Now comes today’s infographic from Keeping Current Matters that looks at the top cities where Americans are making the move.  They say whether capitalizing on job opportunities, affordability, or warm-weather places to retire, folks are moving to these top cities to take advantage of the strength in the current housing market. Indeed…..Happy Friday!! Hat tip to Keeping Current Matters.

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices were up 1.3% in Q4 2019.  In addition, they report that prices were up 5.1% from 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,…

Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to find properties for sale that aren’t listed anywhere and there’s virtually no competition?  On a recent episode of the Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast, host Brian Hamrick talks with Tony Youngs, an expert at finding distressed properties, who tells listeners how to find hidden gems in your own backyard.  Specifically, Brian & Tony do a deep dive into the conversations Tony has with sellers, how he approaches them, the phrases and tactics he uses, how he makes his offer, and whether the buyer or seller should be the first…

We have seen several posts about where people are moving here in America.  If you look at that data through a political lens (it is an election year, after all) and see them as Red (Republican) and Blue (Democratic) states, an interesting picture emerges.  A new report from Veros Real Estate Solutions took a look at home price appreciation across party lines in the largest 100 markets across the nation. Their analysis shows that the average appreciation in Blue States is forecast to be just 3.5%, while the average appreciation for Red States is projected to be over a percentage…

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 3.8% annual gain in December.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 2.4% and the 20-City Composite posted a 2.9% 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. “The U.S. housing market continued its trend of stable growth in December,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director…

We love data about moving because it gives investors a nice snapshot of new and existing market conditions.  The Mortgage Bankers Association recently broke down some of the recent mobility rate numbers published by the Census Bureau to examine why fewer Americans are moving. Moves for employment-related reasons have fluctuated over the last 20 years, but they have remained around seven million per annum. Moves for family-related reasons have fallen in the last five years from over 11 million in 2014 to fewer than nine million. However, the biggest declines are evident for housing-related reasons. These have fallen by approximately…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, the average U.S. rent in January was $1,463 (down $1), marking the third consecutive month of declining rents. However, Yardi says the multifamily market continued its steady performance into the first quarter with year-over-year growth remaining steady at 3.0%. “…one potential headwind to keep in mind for 2020 is regulatory risk, as evidenced by statewide rent control (California, New York and Oregon), and increased local regulation on security deposits (Cincinnati) and resident acceptance criteria (Seattle)…” Click here to read the full report at Yardi.com.