Author: Brad Beckett

According National REIA’s Charles Tassell, “Opportunity zones offer real estate investors strong incentives to invest in designated low-income census tracts…these zones could be the next thing.”  This observation and more are part of a recent article in the March issue of DS News where Tassell gives readers the ins & outs of these Opportunity Zones. “National REIA members tend to improve neighborhoods one home at a time, bringing vacant and distressed housing back online and thereby improving the communities and tax rolls. In opportunity zone communities, investors and developers could all benefit through vibrancy or redevelopment partnered with development, incentivized…

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, inflation will remain under 2% for 2019.  Their “On the Economy Blog” reported that in January 2018, inflation was steadily rising, from 1.8% to its eventual peak of about 2.4% in July.  However, that being said, their latest forecast (from December) utilizing the latest available observation for the price index for personal consumption expenditures (PCEPI) indicates that models continue to expect below 2 percent inflation for all of 2019. “…inflation has averaged under 2 percent. From 2012 to 2017, the PCEPI increased by an average of 1.3 percent per year, with…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in March was $1,050 (up 1.45%) with two-bedroom units coming in at $1,311 (up 2.99%).  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 on ABODO.com.

The U.S. government is reporting that national vacancy rates in Q4 2018 were 6.6% for rental housing and 1.5% for home-owner housing. The rental vacancy rate of 6.6% was not statistically different from Q4 2017.  The homeowner vacancy rate of 1.5% was 0.1 percentage point lower than the rate in the Q4 2017. The homeownership rate of 64.8% was not statistically different from the rate in Q4 2017.  Approximately 88.2% of the housing units in Q4 2018 were occupied and 11.8% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 57.2% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 31.0% of…

During the last week of February, Oregon became the first U.S. state to pass comprehensive statewide rent-control legislation which aims to be the latest solution to an affordable housing crisis already exacerbated by previous regulatory bungles burdens such as urban growth boundaries and overly restrictive zoning.  As reported by the Rental Housing Journal, among many provisions, the new law makes it illegal for landlords to raise rent more than 7% plus the consumer price index during a 12-month period.  It also practically eliminates no-cause evictions and requires property owners to provide a month of free rent to subsidize “with cause”…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for March showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,208 and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,437.  Year to date, one bedroom prices are down 6.7% and two bedroom prices are up 3.2%.  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…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that overall pending home sales increased 4.6% in January, with all four major regions of the country seeing growth.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) declined to 103.2 in January.  However, they also report that year-over-year contract signings declined 2.3%, marking the thirteenth straight month of annual decreases. “Homebuyers are now returning and taking advantage of lower interest rates, while a boost in inventory is also providing more choices for consumers.” Said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. Click here to read the full release at…

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 4.7% annual gain in December, down from 5.1% in November. Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 3.8% and the 20-City Composite posted a 4.2% 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 CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

This is only our second post about Generation Z – that group of kids born between the late 90’s and early 2010’s but, according to recent data, it is the largest in American History.  Today’s infographic from ZeroCater says this digitally-savvy cohort differs from Millennials and is charting its own course!  Yes, indeed….Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to Zero Cater.

Mention marijuana smoking and you will still turn a few heads, although not quite in the same manner that you might have 10-20 years ago.  According to Zillow, there are 34 states (and D.C.) in America that allow medical marijuana usage with 10 states (and D.C.) having some form of recreational use.  Zillow rightly points out that they don’t provide legal advice and recommend consulting with a qualified legal advisor before making any final decisions about your property – especially since it is still illegal at the federal level. However, this movement isn’t going away anytime soon, so do yourself…