Author: Brad Beckett

The National Association of Realtors recently said that pending home sales were up slightly in December for the 3rd consecutive month, according to their Pending Home Sales Index.  In addition they predict that in 2018, existing-home sales and price growth will moderate primarily due to the new tax law’s expected impact in areas with high-cost housing markets. “Pending sales edged up in December and reached their highest level since last March…Another month of modest increases in contract activity is evidence that the housing market has a small trace of momentum at the start of 2018…Jobs are plentiful, wages are finally…

What makes up a first-time home buyer?  The National Association of Realtors recently put together this handy infographic using data from their 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.  So, what do they look like? Age – 32 years old Household income – $75k Cost of home purchased – $190k Down payment amount – 5% Student loan debt – $29k Type and location – Single-family home in a suburban area Happy Friday!! Click here to read the whole story.

A recent article in Forbes pointed to a recent report from HouseCanary that a found a direct link between parts of the U.S. with cold winter weather and markets where EGY (effective gross yield) for rental investors remained high while the seasonal home price growth stabilized or declined.  With that in mind they came up with the top 50 rental markets in cold climates for Q1 of 2018.  “These markets experience a seasonal slowdown yet still offer, “relatively high Effective Gross Yield (EGY) potential for investors, giving them an opportunity to “buy low and rent high,” notes Alex Villacorta, Executive…

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that national vacancy rates in the Q4 2017 were 6.9%  for rental housing and 1.6%  for homeowner housing.  The rental vacancy rate of 6.9% was virtually unchanged from the rate in the fourth quarter 2016 (6.9%) and 0.6 percentage points lower than the rate in the third quarter 2017 (7.5%). The homeowner vacancy rate of 1.6% was 0.2 percentage points lower than the rate in the fourth quarter 2016 (1.8%) and virtually unchanged from the rate in the third quarter 2017 (1.6%).  The homeownership rate of 64.2% was not statistically different from the rates…

CoreLogic recently released their Market Pulse Report for January, 2018 where they provide a lagging indicator snapshot of the U.S. housing market through November, 2017.  Among their findings, new home sales are at their highest since 2008, a third of all homes sold for their list price or even more and average mortgage payments ticking upward.  It’s good data to sift through. “U.S. home prices have risen more than 6 percent over the last year but that’s only part of the challenge for home shoppers, who face mortgage payments that have risen about 12 percent year over year because of…

Black Knight Financial Services recently released their November, 2017 Home Price Index (HPI) report that says that U.S. home prices were up 6.44% year over year in November and up 0.27% for the month.  The HPI value for August was $283k (another new peak). In fact, ten of the 20 largest states and 12 of the 40 largest metros hit new home price peaks in November.  The Black Knight HPI utilizes repeat sales data from the nation’s largest public records data set, as well as its market-leading, loan-level mortgage performance data, to produce one of the most complete and accurate…

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported that sales of new single-family houses in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625k.  This is 9.3% lower than November’s revised estimate, however it is 14.1% higher than December 2016.  There were an estimated 608k new homes sold in 2017 which is 8.3% higher the 2016’s total.  The median sales price of new houses sold in December 2017 was $335,400 and the average sales price was. $398,900.  Inventory of new houses for sale at the end of December was 295k, representing a…

Using data from the 2016 American Community Survey, the NAHB’s Eye on Housing recently illustrated the growing numbers of renter-occupied housing stock across the nation.  According to their findings, renters occupied 43.8 million residences in 2016 with 34.8% of those living in single-family homes – showing the greatest increase among all rental structure types. Click here to read the full story on the NAHB’s Eye on Housing.

Spring can’t come soon enough but unfortunately it won’t be here until March 20th.  With that in mind, statistical data chart site statista recently put together a list of America’s coldest cities.  Coming in at the top of the list Fairbanks, Alaska with minimum average temperatures in its coldest month clocking in at -16.9° F….the also had the coldest on record at -66° F!   No surprises here as all of the cities on their list are located above 45° latitude. Click here to read the full story on Statista.com.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales were down 3.6% in December, however the year ended with overall sales up 1.1% – the best in 11 years.  The median existing-home price for all housing types in December was $246,800, up 5.8% from December 2016 and marking the 70th straight month of year-over-year gains.  Inventory at the end of December was down 11.4% at 1.48 million homes for sale, representing a 3.2-month supply. “Existing sales concluded the year on a softer note, but they were guided higher these last 12 months by a multi-year streak of exceptional job…