Author: Brad Beckett

Odds are, you probably don’t live in one of these neighborhoods, but you might….However if you own rental property in one of them you might be sitting pretty.  In that vein, the folks over at Realtor.com put together a list of the 10 most expensive neighborhoods in the country.   To come up with their list, their team pulled median listing prices fromJune 2017 to May 2018 (12 months) to find the ZIP codes with the highest home prices.  They included only ZIP codes with an average of at least 12 listings per month, to make sure the results weren’t skewed…

Editor’s note:  We’ve had some previous posts about service animals…Kevin’s piece is a good refresher: Beware of False Service Animals by Kevin Coughlin One of the most effective public policy campaigns of the last few decades has been the one that taught us not to park in spaces reserved for the disabled. A combination of robust public education and stiff penalties has helped make it universally understood that able-bodied persons should avoid parking cars there. A newer push is underway to curb the growing practice of people passing their pets off as service animals. While most people associate the conflicts…

The National Association of Realtors recently reported that, for the second month in a row, sales of existing homes were down.  May’s adjusted annual rate was 5.43 million, which is a decline of 0.4% from April’s number.  The Realtors said the lack of market supply was driving these lower numbers.  In addition, the median existing-home price in May was $264,800 – which is an all-time high and marked the 75th straight month of year-over-year price gains. “Closings were down in a majority of the country last month and declined on an annual basis in each major region,” he said. “Incredibly low…

The U.S. government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in May, 2018, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 689k, which is 6.7% higher than April’s revised rate and 14.1% higher than May, 2017.  The median sales price of new houses sold in May was $313,000 and the average sales price was $368,500.  There were an estimated 299k new houses for sale at the end of May representing a 5.2 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report on Census.gov.

A recent study by lendingtree ranked the top 10 cities in America with the most non-owner-occupied loan originations.  They suggest that the lack of inventory in market is being exacerbated by a “lock-in” effect where current owners are dissuaded from selling and moving as their new home would be at a higher interest rate.  In addition, they say non-occupant buyers are crowding-out homebuyers by making a market more competitive and forcing prices higher.  Indeed… “Our study looks at the share of mortgages made for non-owner occupied properties to gauge their impact on inventory. Non-owner occupied properties are either vacation homes,…

Local Market Monitor, a National REIA preferred vendor, recently released their National Economic Outlook for June, 2018 where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. While the monthly jobs data tell us how the economy is doing overall, it’s also worthwhile to see in what ways it’s been changing. We’re used to the idea that manufacturing jobs have disappeared overseas and that computers will soon be doing all those that are left, but automation and the export of low-skill jobs are part of a self-correcting process by which businesses take advantage of opportunities to provide more…

Is Nashville the new Atlanta?  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com) goes in-depth about the Music City and their recent population explosion (up 45% since 2000), low unemployment and their extraordinary economic growth.  Apparently it is the hot place to relocate and that is great for some, and not so much for others.  Either way, they’ll all need good, quality, housing. “Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Miami and other large Southern cities have become the economic powerhouses of the region, drawing more migrants from the North and Midwest. Southern metro areas make up almost 32% of…

For over 5 years the National Association of Realtors has issued their annual Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report.  This report provides insights into differences and similarities across generations of home buyers and sellers. It’s good data…these are your customers!  Happy Friday!!! “One consistent finding for the last several years of reports has been that buyers 37 years and younger (Millennials/Gen Yers) is the largest share of home buyers at 36 percent. Sixty-five percent of these buyers were also first-time home buyers. The largest cohort in America is growing up and becoming more traditional in their buying habits.” Hat…

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ FRED database recently posted an interactive graph showing how many new homes were sold within 7 major price ranges going back 16 years.  FRED offers a wealth of economic data and information updated regularly and gives 24/7 access to regional & national financial and economic data.  Be sure to click on the interactive map below for more detail. Click here to see the full data-sets at FRED.

The U.S. Government is reporting that privately owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,350,000.  This figure is 5% higher than April’s revised estimate and is 20% higher than May, 2017.  Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 936k, which is 3.9% higher than April.  May’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 404k.  Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,301,000.  This number is is 4.6% lower than April’s revised rate but is 8% higher than…