Author: Brad Beckett

A recent “chart of the week” from the Mortgage Bankers Association illustrates the number of owner and rental households with their corresponding income and housing costs burden.  Using data from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ State of the Nation’s Housing Report, they show various demographic shifts between renting and owning taking place before and after the last recession.  Perhaps most interesting was a post-recession shift from owning to renting among households earning between $30k and $75k. “The numbers tell an important story about affordability, and also about how households and the housing market interacted before, during and after the…

While there aren’t as many as there used to be, there are still plenty of them around – and chances are you know where some of them are.  We’re talking about the old motels that used to be a ubiquitous presence along our roadways and in our small towns.  Many of them have been torn down or replaced however a recent article on Realtor.com tells us how the older ones being turned into affordable housing in markets with tight demand.  They even say that for the homeless and disabled “these adaptive reuse projects have been a godsend.”  They do point…

Local Market Monitor, a National REIA preferred vendor, recently released their National Economic Outlook for December, 2018 where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook – December 2018 December 21, 2018 By Ingo Winzer Because homes are so expensive, income is an important way to look at real estate markets. The disturbing fact is that average income – adjusted for inflation – has remained almost the same for the past 15 years, cycling between $29,000 and $31,000. This is the median income, half of workers make more, half make less. If that’s how…

CoreLogic recently came out with their Outlook for the U.S. Economy and Housing Market for 2019 in which they say, among many things, that higher interest rates will affect housing and the mortgage market – especially homeowners who currently have low-rate mortgages that will be incentivized to stay in their home rather than sell, keeping the new-listings flow relatively low.  They anticipate economic growth will be about 2.4% with the unemployment rate coming in around at a 50-year low of 3.4%. Click here to read the full report at CoreLogic.

According to recent data from crunched by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing, there are 7.4 million second homes in America, representing 5.6% of the total housing stock.  The state with the largest number of second homes was Florida with 1.1 million homes (15% of all 2nd homes).  Interestingly, half of the country’s second homes are found in just eight states – Florida, California, New York, Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. “In-depth analysis of the county level data shows that the concentration of second homes is not simply restricted to conventional locations like beachfront areas. There were 916 counties…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing-home sales rose 1.9% in November, marking two straight months of growth.  According to data, there were 5.32 million completed transactions in November with a median price (for all housing types) of $257,700. In addition there were 1.85 million existing homes for sale at the end of November with properties typically staying on the market for 42 days. Unsold inventory is at a 3.9-month supply at the current sales pace. Click here to read the full story at the National Association of Realtors.

Christmas will be here before you know it and if you haven’t put up your tree yet then you may be in luck for rock-bottom prices.  A recent post on eSellerCafe.com used data from Square and the National Christmas Tree Association (who knew the trees were united?) to show how the Christmas tree buying season kicks into high gear on Black Friday with an average price of $77 and then spikes on Cyber Monday at $81. Of course if you have an artificial tree that you’ve been putting up for 20 years, then please disregard……  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to…

In their 2019 construction economic forecast, the Associated Builders and Contractors predicts that the construction sector will remain strong in 2019, however they do warn about inflationary pressures on the horizon.  They say job growth, high backlog and healthy infrastructure investment all spell good news for the industry. In addition they add that historically low unemployment has created a construction workforce shortage of an estimated 500,000 positions, which is leading to increased compensation costs. “U.S. economic performance has been brilliant of late. Sure, there has been a considerable volume of negativity regarding the propriety of tariffs, shifting immigration policy, etc.,…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,256,000. This figure is 3.2% above October’s revised estimate but is 3.6% below November, 2017.   Single‐family housing starts in November were at a rate of 824k, which is 4.6% below October’s revised number.  The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 417k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,328,000. This figure is 5% above October’s revised rate and is 0.4% above November, 2017.  Single‐family authorizations…

The American Automobile Association (aka AAA) says that a record-breaking number of American will travel this holiday season – predicting that over 112 million people will do so.  They say more Americans will travel by car this holiday season than ever before and poeple traveling by plane will be the highest in 15 years.  Are we there yet??? “Strong economic growth fueled by robust consumer spending continues to drive strong demand for seasonal travel…”  Said Bryan Shilling, managing director, AAA Travel products and services. Click here to read the full release at AAA.com.