Author: Brad Beckett

The mortgage industry was recently thrown a curve when mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced they were adding a 0.5% fee on all refinancing loans.  According to CNBC’s Diana Olick, in a period of record-low interest rates, Fannie & Freddie say the fee is necessary to mitigate potential risk form the Coronavirus pandemic and will be made effective on loans starting September 1, 2020.  Understandably, the mortgage industry has strongly reacted as well as the Trump Administration, which said it too has serious concerns about the new fees.  CNBC says the move was seen as a “slap in…

If you’re a beer drinker, you’ve undoubtedly enjoyed the dramatic rise in craft breweries over the last 10 years (especially).  As today’s infographic from Statista points out, breweries have literally exploded since 1976 – going from 103 to 8,386 in 2019!  In addition, as for the pandemic’s affect on the nation’s craft beer supply, they say “reports of craft beer’s demise have been greatly exaggerated”  Indeed…. “While the Brewers Association’s midyear report does indeed shows that the U.S. beer scene is facing an unprecedented challenge, it certainly does not appear to be the doomsday scenario some were expecting a few…

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Insights (HPI) report, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 4.9% year-over-year in June. Once again, CoreLogic says strong demand, especially by younger home buyers, and low supply helped push home prices higher. “Home price appreciation continues at a solid pace reflecting fundamental strength in demand drivers and limited for-sale inventory…As we move forward, we expect these price increases to moderate over the next twelve months. Given the economic outlook, housing remains a bright spot for the foreseeable future.” Said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. Click here to read the full…

As the U.S. labor market continues to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic, job numbers recently posted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed strong results.  According to the NAHB’s Eye on Housing, total payroll employment rose by 1.8 million and the unemployment rate declined to 10.2% in July.  In addition, Residential construction employment rose by 24k to 2.8 million with total construction industry (residential & nonresidential) employment rebounding to nearly 7.2 million.  In addition, unemployment dropped 0.9 percentage points to 10.2% in July. “Residential construction employment now stands at 2.8 million in July, broken down as 815,000 builders and 2.0…

Are we about to face a surge in foreclosures next year resulting from delinquencies brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic?  On a recent episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke takes a look at a recent report from ATTOM Data that is forecasting a dramatic rise in foreclosures by Q2 of 2021.  She does however, point out that there are a number of unknown variables that may help or hinder this potential deluge – including Congressional action (or inaction), high unemployment numbers as well as a presidential election this Fall.  Indeed… “We still have several months of uncertainty…

CNBC’s Power Lunch recently pointed out that suburban growth is now double that of cities with people feeling crowded urban areas for the suburbs.  In fact, they say that the while trend started before the pandemic, it has since accelerated.  CNBC’s Robert Frank reports on what it all could mean for the future of cities and why the urban growth rate is declining…. Note point #3 below: Click here to watch on CNBC.com.

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) says that 79.3% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by August 6th.  This figure represents a 1.9 percentage point decrease in the share who paid rent through August 6, 2019 and compares to 77.4% that paid by July 6th.  The  data comes from the NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker which uses data from 11.4 million professionally managed apartment units across the country. Click here to read the full report at NMHC.com. Click here to view the NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker.

According to the latest Yardi Matrix Multifamily Report, the average U.S. rent in July was $1,460 up $2 from June with year-over-year, rent growth remaining at -0.3%.   They point out that gateway markets continued their steep year-over-year declines, with San Jose (-5.0%) and San Francisco (-4.1%) leading the way. This is a stark contrast from last July, when rents in San Jose grew by 2.0% and rents in San Francisco grew by 2.8%.  However…. “In the short term, month-over-month rents showed signs of improvement in July, with 25 of the top 30 markets performing better in July than June, although…

According to government data, over 61 million Americans live with a disability.  Today’s infographic from the U.S. Census Bureau breaks down the number of Americans with a disability by age, sex and type.  Per the CDC, a disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions).  Indeed…. Stay safe and Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to data from a Redfin buyers survey, almost half (45%) of recent homebuyers made an offer on a home without ever seeing it in person.  Redfin says this is the highest level since 2015 and is being fueled by health concerns from the pandemic as well as a continuing shortage of available housing.  In fact, they expect these “sight-unseen” offers to grow.  Indeed… “I predict that by the end of the 2020 homebuying season, the majority of homebuyers will have made a sight-unseen offer…The pandemic has changed the way many people view homes, and on top of that, the…