Author: Brad Beckett

CoreLogic is reporting that cash sales accounted for 29.7%  of total home sales in July 2016, down 1.9 percentage points year over year from July 2015.  REO sales had the largest cash sales share in July at 57.6%, followed by resales at 29.4%, and short sales at 28.1 percent.  Newly constructed homes came in at 15%.  CoreLogic says that if the overall share of cash sales continues to fall it could hit 25% by mid-2018.  Overall, New York had the largest share of cash sales share at 44.6%, followed by Alabama (43.6%), Florida (39.6%), New Jersey (37.3%) and Indiana (37%).…

Adding to the interesting saga of reseting HELOC’s (Home Equity Lines of Credit), TD Bank recently released the results of their Reset Measure Survey showing that 43% of U.S. homeowners would be affected and of those, 27% were unaware of their loans impending reset.  The survey polled more than 800 homeowners nationwide with HELOC’s. Key takeaways: Three-in-ten homeowners have received a Home Equity Line of Credit since 2014 Over one-quarter do not know when the HELOC Draw Period ends 43% are not clear what will happen to their monthly payment when the Draw Period comes to an end Home renovations…

Yes, you read that headline correctly – Nearby Power Lines Can Increase Home Values.  A recent article published in The Appraisal Journal said that property values can be affected in both positive and negative ways by their proximity to transmission lines.  The article found that transmission lines that have greenways located beneath positively impact some homes.  The research covered 125k home sales over a 14-year period.  The Appraisal Journal is the quarterly technical and academic publication of the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers. Click here to read “Property Value Impacts from Transmission Lines, Subtransmission…

The Commerce Department reported this week that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,225,000. This is 6.3% above the revised August rate of 1,152,000 and is 8.5% higher than September 2015.  Single-family authorizations in September were at a rate of 739k which is 0.4% higher than August.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 449,000 in September.  Privately-owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,047,000.  This is 9% lower than August’s estimate of 1,150,000 and…

Mortgage insurance leader Arch MI recently released their Fall 2016 Housing and Mortgage Market Review that says the likelihood of U.S. home price declines over the next two years remains low.  The report, which analyzes key economic data, provides housing sector forecasts and information on long-term trends, pegs the chance of price declines at 4%, down from 6% predicted one year ago.  Bottom line;  they say even strong dynamics are now in place that will continue pushing up home prices faster than the rate if inflation for the foreseeable future. Click here to download the full report at Arch MI.

According to data form the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the median seller tenure has steadily increased since 1985, where it was 5 years compared to 9 in 2015.  The highest value was in 2014 when it crept up to 10 years. “…market changes in the last decade have caused sellers to remain in their homes longer, increasing the median number of years in the home by 50 percent more than they did 20-30 years prior.” Click here to read the full story on the NAR’s Economist Outlook blog.

What style of home best defines an “American” home?  The folks over at Realtor.com took a look at the different architectural styles of homes all across the country as well as their median prices.  What style that is most prevalent?  The ranch home – which is the most popular style in 29 of 50 states and can be built quickly, inexpensively and easily customized.  That was followed by the Traditional, which, not surprisingly, tends to dominate the South. “Most regional architectural styles in the United States have their roots both in history and in the environment: They grew out of…

We’ve seen the data from Corelogic showing that foreclosures continue to drop nationwide.  Recently the folks over at Keeping Current Matters put it all into perspective with an infographic illustrating how foreclosure rates have dropped to pre-crisis lows.  Happy Friday!! Some key takeaways: Only 2.9% of homes are in serious delinquency, down 17.1% from July 2015. This is the 57th consecutive month with a year-over-year decline. The national foreclosure rate has returned to August 2007 levels, at only 0.9%. Hat tip to Keeping Current Matters.

The folks over at HomeUnion recently analyzed just how far a $100k down payment (25%) would go in the most sought-after investment housing markets.  Their new report analyzed what $400k would buy in Jacksonville, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte and Austin.  Then they compared their findings with what can be purchased for the same price in Denver, Washington, D.C., Seattle, New York and Oakland.  A good example was Jacksonville, Florida where investors who leveraged a $400k investment in rental properties get twice as much space, and collected 1.5 times the rent as those buying a similarly priced condo in New York City.…

This week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down provisions of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) as being unconstitutional by saying that it gives too much power to the agency’s director.  The decision was in response to lawsuit filed by mortgage lender PHH which had been the recipient of a $109 million enforcement action from the CFPB – which had amended an administration judge’s penalty of $6.4 million.  Regarding constitutionality, the appeals court ruled that the law creating the CFPB violated the separation of powers clause and that the agency needs to be…