Author: Brad Beckett

Now that Amazon has revealed the three locations of their second headquarters (aka HQ2), the folks over at ATTOM Data zeroed-in on those locations (New York, Washington, D.C., and Nashville) to analyze their markets vis a vis the new Opportunity Zones created by Congress last year.  Interestingly they found that homes located in Opportunity Zones nationwide and in each of these three markets consistently were sold at a discount but also have appreciated more quickly over the past five years compared to homes outside of the Opportunity Zones.  Their analysis looked at housing characteristics, such as home values and price…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing-home sales increased in October for the first time in six months.  According to data, there were 5.22 million completed transactions in October with a median price (for all housing types) of $255,400.  In addition there were 1.85 million existing homes for sale at the end of October with properties typically staying on the market for 33 days.  Unsold inventory is at a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, says increasing housing inventory has brought more buyers to the market. “After six consecutive months of decline,…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,228,000. This figure is 1.5% above September’s revised estimate but is 2.9% below October, 2017.  Single‐family housing starts in October were at a rate of 865k, which is 1.8% below September’s revised number. The October rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 343k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,263,000. This figure is 0.6% below September’s revised rate and is 6% below the October ,2017.  Single‐family…

If you’re reading this then we made it through another Thanksgiving…Thanks be to God!  That being said, the folks over good old “tripple-A” projected that over 54 million Americans were taking to the roads (traveling 50 miles or more) this Thanksgiving season – which they said was nearly 5% more than last year!  With all those road trips in mind, and all the “are we there yets” that were undoubtedly endured, we thought we’d share this handy reference chart of highway markers from all corners of our United States of America.  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to BrilliantMaps.com.

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, U.S. multifamily rents were flat for the second straight month in October, dropping $1 to $1,420, while year-over-year growth was unchanged at 3.3%.  In addition they expect that the full-year rent increase for 2018 will remain near the year-to-date figure of 3.3%, with occupancy rates stable at current high levels. Click here to read the full report at Yardi.com.

Where are the best “small cities” in America?  Recently WalletHub put pen to paper and compared over 1,200 American cities with populations between 25k and 100k using 40 indicators of livability.  These include things such cost of living, housing costs, home ownership, income, school quality, restaurants per capita, coffee shops per capita and many more.  Indeed…be sure to click on the interactive map below. “Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few of its advantages. Granted, these little urban areas demand some tradeoffs, too,…

Redfin is reporting that while U.S. home prices continued to increase (up 4.5%) , however they report that, in October, 31.3% of homes for sale had at least one price drop of more than 1% – which they say is the highest share of price drops on record since Redfin began tracking them in 2010.  In Seattle, for example, almost half of homes for sale had price drops, with an average price cut of $27,500, down from more than $30,000 a year earlier. “…Some homebuyers are adjusting their price range down, and others are backing out of home-buying entirely–deciding that…

As any landlord can tell you, bed bugs are no stranger to a real estate investor’s world.  Pest fighters Terminix remind us that with one of the busiest travel days of the year approaching travelers need to be mindful about the risks of picking up bed bugs while out and about. To that end they put together their top 25 cities where “bed bugs are crawling.”  To come up with their list, they looked at service data from over 300 Terminix branches across the country with the highest number of bed-bug control services. ‘Contrary to their name, these bloodsucking insects…

According to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey, the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one to four unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.47% of all loans outstanding at the end of the Q3 of 2018.  The delinquency rate was up 11 basis points from the previous quarter, but down 41 basis points from one year ago. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started dropped one basis point from the last quarter to 0.23% – representing the lowest level since the Q4 of 1985. “Despite the small uptick this…

According to the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com), rising construction costs and a tight labor market are slowing a nearly decade long apartment boom, which analysts say is easing a burgeoning glut at the top end of the market that has been forming across the country.  Data show that multifamily building permits have fallen each month since March, which experts suggest is a sign that there could be less new apartment construction over the next two years – which is the normal time to build an apartment property. “It appears we’re beginning to see some early signs of relief…