Author: Brad Beckett

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will conclude their single-family rental pilot programs and then terminate their participation in the single-family rental market except through their previously existing investor programs – Fannie Mae’s Multiple Financed Properties and Freddie Mac’s Investment Property Mortgages.  The FHFA’s announcement does not preclude the Enterprises from proposing changes to their existing programs to meet the needs of the single-family rental market, or from developing proposals that are calculated to utilize single-family rentals as a pathway to homeownership. “What we learned as a result of the…

The U.S. government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in July 2018 were 1.7% lower than June’s revised rate but is 12.8% higher than July, 2017.  The median sales price of new houses sold in July 2018 was $328,700 and the average sales price was $394,300.  The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 309,000 representing a 5.9 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full release on Census.gov.

Is that rehab project worth it?  That’s the proverbial million-dollar question.  Today’s infographic from leading self-directed IRA custodian Equity Trust Company takes a look at several rehab projects and how much ROI they bring back (per Remodeling Magazine’s 2018 Cost vs value Report).  As we’ve seen before, adding a deck and a new front door tops the list….Happy Friday! Hat tip to Equity Trust.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were down .07% in July, marking the fourth straight month of declines.  The median existing-home price for all housing types in July was $269,600, which is up 4.5% from July 2017 and marks the 77th straight month of year-over-year price gains.  Total housing inventory at the end of July decreased 0.5% to 1.92 million existing homes available for sale (unchanged from one year ago). Unsold inventory is at a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace – also unchanged from one year ago. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says…

According to recent data analyzed by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing, the number of single-family homes built-for-rent has been increasing over the last four quarters.  Using data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, they report that construction starts of single-family homes for rent totaled 42k homes, compared to 29k in the prior four quarters. In Q2 2018, there were 13k single-family built-for-rent starts.  Interestingly, this class of single-family construction excludes homes that are sold to another party for rental purposes and only includes homes built and held for rental purposes. Click here to read the full…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently filed a formal complaint against Facebook for violating the Fair Housing Act by allowing landlords and home-sellers to engage in housing discrimination when utilizing their online advertising platform.  The “HUD Secretary-initiated” complaint follows an investigation into Facebook’s advertising platform that includes targeting tools enabling advertisers to filter prospective tenants or home-buyers based on protected classes. The full release is below: HUD FILES HOUSING DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT AGAINST FACEBOOK Secretary-initiated complaint alleges platform allows advertisers to discriminate WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today a formal complaint…

What exactly is a Credit Freeze and what are the benefits of putting one in place?  It can get confusing and there is a lot of misinformation out there.  To that end,  these and many other questions (including the advantages and disadvantages) about Credit Freezes are discussed in a recent article on MyFico.com.  It’s worth checking out. “Simply stated, a credit freeze (a.k.a. “Security Freeze”) places a lock on access to your credit report. That means that once the freeze is activated, lenders and other companies can’t review your credit, which in turn stops thieves from opening new accounts in…

We have had several posts about where Americans are moving and in what numbers, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (and then posted on Realtor.com) examines new data that suggest fewer Americans are moving to seek job opportunities.  According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 3.5 million people relocated for a new job in 2017.  That number is 10% lower than in 2015 and continues to trend lower as the population actually increases. “Experts cite a number of factors that in some periods have kept people in one place, including a depressed value for their home…

The U.S. Government is reporting that privately owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,168,000, which is 0.9% above June’s revised figure.  However, July’s number is 1.4% lower than July, 2017’s rate.  Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 862k, which is also 0.9% above June’s revised figure.  The rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 303k.  Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,311,000, which is 1.5% above the June’s revised rate and is 4.2% higher…

According to New York Fed’s most recent Quarterly Report on Household Debt, Americans’ total household debt has risen for the past 16 quarters and the total is now $618 billion higher than the previous peak of $12.68 trillion, in Q3 of 2008.  In addition, overall household debt is now 19.2% above the post-financial-crisis low reached during Q2 of 2013. The report is based on data from the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel, a nationally representative sample of individual- and household-level debt and credit records drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data.  The New York Fed also issued an accompanying blog…