Author: Brad Beckett

In her “2018 Playbook” CNBC’s Diana Olick takes a quick look at what happened in 2017 and we can expect in the real estate world for 2018.   Those predictions include slightly higher home sales, home builders slowly increasing production and potential sellers are staying on the sidelines. “Three years of low inventory is taking its toll on buyer demand in terms of tour and offer activity,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “People still want to buy homes, especially before mortgage interest rates increase and prices rise even more. But there just aren’t enough homes for sale, especially at lower-…

Urban sprawl is coming back big in 2018, or at least that’s what Zillow says due to limited building space in the nation’s urban areas.  They also predict that current homeowners will remodel their homes instead of selling (making inventory even tighter) and new homes will be designed with both millennials and aging baby-boomers in mind. Specifically they predict: Inventory shortages will drive the housing market: Builders will turn their focus to entry-level homes Millennials will move to the suburbs Many homeowners will remodel rather than sell: Baby Boomers and millennials will drive home design Homes prices will continue to…

In a recent episode of News for Investors, Kathy Fettke talks about the recent Tax Reform legislation which passed Congress and was signed by the President as well as the latest on America’s most expensive zip codes, and a new trend for working adults who live in rentals. Click here to read the transcript.

Local Market Monitor (a National REIA preferred vendor) recently released their National Economic Outlook for December, 2017 where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook – December 2017 December 27, 2017 By: Ingo Winzer In previous economic cycles, the performance of the US economy could be measured by the growth or decline in jobs. No more. By measures like corporate profits or GDP, the economy is doing well today, but job growth keeps slowing down. What gives? In a word, computers. The greater use of computers and information technology keeps displacing workers.…

According to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, over the last 12 months home prices continued rising across the country.  The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 6.2% annual gain in October, up from 6.1% in September. Their 10-City Composite came in at 6.0%, up from 5.7% in September. The 20-City Composite posted a 6.4% year-over-year gain, up from 6.2% the previous month.  Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Diego reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities.  Seattle led the way with a 12.7% year-over-year price increase, followed…

In their most recent Inventory and Price Watch report, Trulia is reporting that that while starter and trade-up home inventory decreased at double-digit rates (-19% and -11.4% respectively), premium homes saw their biggest declines in over than four years, at 5.9%.  In addition, they say that homes are now the most unaffordable since they started tracking in 2012. Click here to read the full report on Trulia.com.

Earlier this year we shared Realtor.com’s hottest markets for 2017 and now we’ve discovered that they have circled-back with an update to not only share how they have fared, but who gained big and who fell hard.  Be sure to take a look at the complete list as there are some surprises as well as some spot-ons. The biggest gainer: Cincinnati, which jumped 53 spots to land at No. 64 on the overall hottest markets list (drawn from the 300 largest metropolitan areas). Like much of the Midwest, Cincinnati offers homes with prices that are actually within reach for many…

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 November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 733k. This is 17.5% higher than October’s revised and is 26.6% higher than November 2016. The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2017 was $318,700. The average sales price was $377,100.  There were an estimated 283k new houses for sale at the end of November representing a 4.6 month supply. Click here to read the full release.

If you haven’t got your Christmas shopping done then you’d better get cracking!  In the meantime, here’s a handy graphic about the origins of Santa Claus and how the current incarnation of him came to be.  We hope you have a safe & happy holiday weekend as well as a Merry Christmas!  And of course, Happy Friday! Hat tip to degreeresearch.org.

One thing that holds rings true when you travel around the country are the differences in the cost of living from place to place (ever been to New York City???).  It is often hard to comprehend but really easy to spot when you pull out your wallet experience it firsthand.  The folks over at Numbeo.com have put together an interesting site where you can enter the name of any U.S. city (or anywhere in the world, for that matter) to see prices on a whole host of items as well as the ability to compare that data with other cities-…