Author: Brad Beckett

While not exactly a sexy subject, this is interesting from a data & public health perspective.  According to research from the NAHB’s Economics analysis of the Survey of Construction (SOC), about 9% of new single-family homes started in 2018 across America were served by individual wells and more than 16% have private septic systems.  The SOC classifies community or shared water supply/wells as public water rather than individual wells. Click here to read the full report at the NAHB’s Eye on Housing.

Black Knight’s “first look” report for October, 2019 says that there were just under 44k foreclosure starts, with the National delinquency rate falling to 3.39% in October, a nearly 7% decline from 2018.  In addition, they also reported that serious delinquencies fell by 10k from September, while the number of loans in active foreclosure edged up slightly.  Prepayment activity climbed another 16% in October (the highest level since May 2013) and are now up 134% year-over-year as refinancing homeowners continue to take advantage of low interest rates.  Black Knight derives its data from their loan-level database representing the majority of…

We’ve covered this issue quite a bit over the past couple years.  Now comes a new report from the National Apartment Association (NAA) that illustrates rent control’s potentially devastating effects on four major U.S. cities (Chicago, Denver, Portland Oregon, and Seattle).  The NAA’s analysis hows  these policies decrease housing supply, harm the condition of existing housing stock and lower property values (lowering tax revenues), limiting job growth and having a negative impact on local economies.  Indeed… “Each of these effects represent inefficient outcomes relative to allowing the market price to adjust according to supply and demand. By not allowing the…

(See update at bottom of post)   The City of Cincinnati is considering legislation that would require landlords to accept so-called security deposit insurance in lieu of a security deposit.  According to CBS News, the newly introduced legislation would supposedly “free renters from having to hand over a large lump sum and instead direct landlords to accept a security-deposit insurance policy as an alternative.”  In addition CBS says it could make Cincinnati the first city in the nation to require their acceptance by landlords.  The timing is especially interesting as Cincinnati recently enacted a series of laws making it tougher…

The FBI tells us that there is one burglary in America every 13 seconds.  That means home & business security should be on everyone’s minds – especially as we move into the Christmas season.  The folks over at security comparison site SecuringHome put together this handy infographic to share some tried-and-true methods for keeping homes and families safe from outside threats.  They remind us, too, that the peace of mind that comes with home security cannot be overstated….Indeed…..Happy Friday! Hat tip to Securinghome.com.

What are the average salaries needed to live “comfortably” in each state? How about the number of hours you need to work each week?  Those are some interesting questions that the folks at GOBankingRates set out to discover.  They crunched the numbers from all 50 states, looking at each one’s median hourly wage to get the total number of hours needed to work to cover expenses, nonessential items and savings.   They then ask, can you earn enough to cover your bills and have money left over to pay for extras and save for the future?  Their list starts with the…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in November was $1,078 and $1,343 for two-bedrooms.   ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and then track the month-over-month percentage change. To avoid small sample sizes, they restrict their analysis to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds. Be sure to check out their extensive city list. Click here to read the full report at ABODO.com.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales decreased 1.7% in October, which they attribute to the decline in inventory and a small rise in mortgage rates in October from September.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) decreased to 106.7 in October, down 1.7% from September. In addition, they reported that year-over-year contract signings were up 4.4%. “We risk a lingering shortage of sufficient inventory if homebuilding only continues at its current pace over the next 20 years, when the U.S. population is projected to increase by more than 40…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for December, 2019 showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,230 (down 0.9%) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,465 (down 1%).  Year to date, one bedroom prices are up 1.8% and two bedroom prices are up 1.7%.  Zumper analyzes rental data from over 1 million active listings across the United States. Data is aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. The report is based…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in October was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of f $1,291.1 billion, which is 0.8% below September’s revised number.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $508.2 billion in October.  That figure is 0.9% lower than September’s revised figure. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.