Author: Brad Beckett

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales jumped 9.4% in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million (up 20.9% from one year ago).  Total housing inventory at the end of September was 1.47 million units, down 1.3% from August and down 19.2% from one year ago.  Total unsold inventory was at a 2.7-month supply at the current sales pace with properties remaining on the market for around 21 days. The median existing-home price for all housing types was $311,800, up 14.8% from September, 2019. “Home sales traditionally taper off toward the end of the…

Does the Amazon truck swing by your home or office on a regular basis?  There is a very good chance that it does just like millions of other people all across the nation.  Today’s infographic from Visual Capitalist does a deep-dive into what exactly people are searching for on that big shopping behemoth.  In fact, they report that over half of all searches are for electronics…..Remember when they just sold books???  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!! “When it comes to searching for products online, a majority of U.S. shoppers go directly to Amazon. Thanks to this widespread use,…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,415,000, which is 1.9% higher than August’s revised number.  September’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 295k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,553,000, which was 5.2% higher than August’s revised number.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 390k in September. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the NAHB’s Eye on Housing (using recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics), Softwood Lumber prices have surged a record 29% in September, pushing building materials up 4.4% in 2020.  They report that higher lumber prices have added nearly $16k to the price of an average new single-family home since mid-April. “The monthly increase is the largest in the history of both the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data sets which date back to 1975 and 1947, respectively.  The biggest monthly increase during the then-historic price run of 2018 was 5.4%, less than half the magnitude of the…

According to Mortgage News Daily, a new California law taking effect on January 1st will seek to hinder a repeat of the 1000’s of single-family homes that converted from ownership to rental properties during the “Great Recession.”  The new law (formerly SB1079) will reportedly give tenants, affordable housing groups and local governments will get “first crack” at buying foreclosed homes. Interestingly, according to the legislation, the law is only operational between January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2026. “The California legislation, SB1079, was the brainchild of an activist Oakland group, Moms 4 Housing. It bars sellers of foreclosed homes from…

What are the top 10 housing markets most vulnerable to COVID-19’s Impact?  In a recent special report,  ATTOM Data looked at the U.S. housing markets that are more or less at risk of an economic impact related to the Coronavirus pandemic.  Their findings showed that pockets of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions were the most vulnerable in Q3, while the West and Midwest fared less risk.  Interestingly, the counties least at-risk were concentrated in Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin  Indeed… “The U.S. housing market continues to show remarkable resilience during a time of widespread economic trouble and high unemployment…

The CDC recently issued a set of FAQs (frequently asked questions) offering “non-binding” guidance with respect to their recent “Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19″ eviction moratorium.  On a recent episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke takes a look at that guidance to help understand what it is saying (and not saying) as well as other areas that she says have caused some confusion. “Although the new guidelines provide landlords with more options, they won’t pay the bills for landlords. The vast majority of renters are paying their rent, but some…

As readers of those site know, investors can glean a lot of information by looking at U-Haul rental data about where people are moving to and from.  The John Burns Real Estate Consulting firm recently released an update to their analysis of U-Haul rental rates between U.S. cities.   They say this information gives valuable insight into the nation’s migration patterns, which they’ve dubbed “The Great American Move.”  Indeed… “Never before have space and location been more important. The housing industry continues to benefit from The Great American Move. We continue to track the acceleration of movements to exurban communities—those in…

We love posting about millennials, if for no other reason than just like every other generation they, too need a place to live.  In fact, they have now taken over from the Baby Boomers as the largest generation to date and make up a majority of our nation’s workforce.  With that in mind, the folks over at RENTcafé recently crunched the numbers from around 13 million renter applications across the country and identifed those cities where millennials represented the highest share of apartment applicants.  Indeed… “One thing is certain about Millennials: If they flock to a particular city, that area…

According to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report, as of July, 6.6% of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30+ days including those in foreclosure. In July, 2019 that figure was 3.8%.  The CoreLogic report monitors mortgage performance health and examines all stages of delinquency as well as transition rates from one stage to the next. “Four months into the pandemic, the 120-day delinquency rate for July spiked to 1.4%,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “This was the highest rate in more than 21 years and double the December 2009 Great Recession peak. The spike in…