The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in May was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,293.9 billion, which was 0.8% below April’s revised rate. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $498.9 billion in April, 0.6% below April’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full release at Census.gov.
Author: Brad Beckett
Brad Beckett
Director of Education & Outreach, National Real Estate Investors Association
Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for July showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,220 and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,469. Year to date, one bedroom prices are up 0.8% and two bedroom prices are up 1.9%. 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 on all data available in…
National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in July was $1,082 with two-bedroom units coming in at $1,357. 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. “We mentioned last month that the “solid increases we saw in June were on the higher side…
The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales increased 1.1% in May, which they say was a positive variation from the minor sales dip seen in April. The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) decreased to 104.3 in April, with the Midwest being the only region to experience growth. In addition, they reported that year-over-year contract signings declined 2%, marking the 16th straight month of annual decreases. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said lower-than-usual mortgage rates have led to the increase in pending sales for May. “Rates of 4% and, in…
A recent article by the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com) points out that the investor share of home purchases has climbed to an all-time high, indicating that rising home prices have not hurt demand for turning them into SFRs or flipping. Citing data from CoreLogic, they said 11% were purchased by big private-equity firms, real-estate speculators and others that buy properties. However, when it comes to the bottom third price range, investors purchased one in five homes – which is up 5 percentage points from the 20-year average of less than 15%. “These are the homes that first-time home…
Next week, on July 4th, America celebrates 243 years of independence! Today’s infographic takes a look at the 4th of July by the numbers to provide a nice little snapshot about this holiday we Americans hold dear. Whatever you do to celebrate, do it safely and have fun…..and, as for today, Happy Friday!!! “On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth…
We recently posted about how strong leasing activity has pushed apartment occupancy levels not seen in nearly 20 years. Now we have additional data coming from the Mortgage Bankers Association showing that the vacancy rate for single-family owner-occupied homes fell to 1.2% in Q1 – the lowest level since 1995. “There has been a great deal of attention paid lately to the mismatch between the supply of, and demand for, housing in the United States. According to Census statistics, the U.S. added 1.5 million households during 2018 but built fewer than 1.2 million new housing units. The result is a…
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 3.5% annual gain in April, down from 3.7% in March. Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 2.3% and the 20-City Composite posted a 2.5% 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. Click here to read the full report at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in May, 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626k, which is 7.8% lower than April’s revised figure. The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2019 was $308k and the average sales price was $377,200. There was an estimated 333k new houses for sale at the end of April representing a 6.4 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.
A Florida investor thought he got a great deal when he was buying a $177k-valued villa for $9,100 at a county property tax auction, but it soon turned into sour grapes. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, what he actually purchased was not a villa but a 1-foot by 100-foot strip of land worth about $50 (see arrow in photo below). Now the buyer wants Broward County to void the deal and claims that the photos were misleading and deceptive. The land actually contains two mailboxes starting at the curb and then runs under a wall separating the garages…
