Author: Brad Beckett

Home sales hit the skids in December according to data recently released by the National Association of Realtors.  Total existing-home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, decreased 6.4% from November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.99 million in December, 2018.  In addition they also report that sales are 10.3% lower than December, 2017.  Total housing inventory at the end of December was 1.55 million, slightly higher than one year ago. There is a 3.7 month supply at the current sales pace. “The housing market is obviously very sensitive to mortgage rates. Softer sales in…

Local Market Monitor, a National REIA preferred vendor, recently released their National Economic Outlook for January, 2019 where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook – January 2019 January 22, 2019 By Ingo Winzer The economy is always changing, even though economists routinely pretend the data from one period can be directly compared with data from another. Some of the interesting changes can be seen by looking at the types of jobs the economy is creating.For example, in 2018, of the 2.7 million new jobs created, 130,000 were at management and computer consulting…

A recent article on Bloomberg.com discusses the recent “fervor” about opportunity zones and how it is heating up across the country.  As we have posted, an Opportunity Zone is an economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment, that were created by Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017. They are an economic development tool designed to spur economic development and job creation in distressed communities.  Bloomberg points that there are some questions about whether these investments will reach the areas that need it most: “…For a limited time, investors who…

We really thought we had seen it all when last year when a lady tried to board a plane with her emotional support peacock.  Now we’ve learned that yet another exotic animal has crossed over into the murky world of support animals.  According to a recent article in USA Today, a man in Pennsylvania has been taking his emotional support alligator to visit with folks living in retirement centers.  Apparently, Wally the 4.5 foot alligator behaves just like a dog, at least according to his owner, Joie.  Interestingly Joie also cautioned that you do have to be careful around him…

We’ve all heard the stories and the jokes about today’s young people (millennials, in particular) still living at home.  The folks over at VisualCapitalist recently put together an interactive map illustrating in which states these youngsters are still likely to be living at home.  They point out that an estimated 34.5% of young adults (ages 18-34 years old) in the U.S live at home – one of the highest percentages in recent memory. Here are the five states with the highest proportion of young adults living at home: Rank State Population (Young Adults) % Living at Home #1 New Jersey…

According to ATTOM Data’s Year-End 2018 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure filings have reached their lowest level since 2005.  In 2018, there were 624,753 foreclosure filings (0.47% of all U.S. housing units), which was down 8% from 2007 and 78% from its peak in 2010.  In addition they point out that bank repossessions decreased 78% since their peak in 2010 and foreclosure starts were at new record low nationwide.  ATTOM’s year-end foreclosure report provides a unique count of properties with a foreclosure filing during the year based on publicly recorded and published foreclosure filings collected in more than 2,500 counties…

Monday, January 21st, is Martin Luther King Day.  In honor of the life & legacy of Dr. King we’ve posted this infographic from the RAAB Collection about his life and impact on American history.  Happy Friday! Hat tip to the Raab Collection.

There are a whole cadre of city planners out there trying their hardest to force Americans to live in high-density neighborhoods where they can unshackle themselves from the automobile and its dreaded internal-combustion engine.  Wishful thinking on many accounts, but, interestingly, when the data doesn’t quite line up like they’d like (or expect), they still try every which way to explain these inconvenient facts and get everyone back on the “new urbanism” narrative.   Case in point.  A recent article in CityLab admits that even in America’s most transit-orientated cities, car ownership is in fact on the rise.  The author even goes…

In today’s business world is not uncommon to find people working from Starbucks or even the confines of their own home.  In fact, with ever-increasing internet speeds, it is not unheard of to have a connection as fast or even faster away from the traditional office.  We even had a post recently about cities with the fastest internet speeds.  With that in mind, Zillow looked at the nation’s 100 largest metros using Ookla’s Speedtest over a fixed broadband connection and ranked their performance.  Then, they compared that ranking to Zillow’s median home value for each area to which they conclude…

As a recent post on LendingTree points out, while the retirement stage of life is something most Americans plan for, many just aren’t financially prepared. In fact, one common obstacle to a sound retirement is simply debt. To that end, LendingTree calculated the median non-mortgage debt balances for retirement-aged people in the 50 largest U.S. metros, and then calculated the average distribution of that debt.  Among their findings were that the average of median debt for retirement-age borrowers was $20,643 and the average credit score was 701.  Indeed… “Debt is even more burdensome when it’s carried over into retirement. Paying…