Author: Brad Beckett

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development & Research (PD&R) recently released their National Housing Market Summary for the Q4 of 2016.  According to the report,  the housing market showed a mixed set of results for the fourth quarter of 2016 with construction starts rising for both single-family and multifamily housing. While purchases of new single-family homes fell,  sales of previously owned (existing) homes rose.  In addition, for all of 2016, the housing market continued to improve with housing starts up 6% over 2015.  Construction of single-family homes increased 9% and multifamily housing starts dropped…

CNBC’s Realty Check is reporting that home builders across the country are having trouble finding workers to build homes.  Reporter Diana Olick cites a home builder in Denver, CO, where homes are taking about two months longer to build and there are instances of contractors doubling their wages just to keep workers from skipping to the next job site.   In addition, she reports that wages in the residential building industry are growing at twice the rate of wages in the overall economy. “Thousands of construction workers left the industry during the recession, many of them heading to the energy sector.…

Recently,  S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller released their National Home Price NSA Index which showed that home prices rose 5.9% in January, setting a 31-month high.  Their 10-City Composite posted a 5.1% annual increase and the 20-City Composite reported a year-over-year gain of 5.7%.  Seattle, Portland, and Denver reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities over each of the last 12 months. In January, Seattle led the way with an 11.3% year-over-year price increase, followed by Portland with 9.7%, and Denver with a 9.2% increase. Twelve cities reported greater price increases in the year ending January 2017 versus the year…

Let’s face it, artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming an important part of the real estate industry.  With growing rental demands and the need for more complex property management, AI is providing technology solutions to make the job easier and more efficient.  Especially when you consider that the number of renter households grew by about 9 million over the last 10 years and there are now over 45 million renter households across the country.  Even a headline in Forbes calls property management the next frontier for artificial intelligence. Click here to hear more of Kathy’s podcasts on NewsforInvestors.com

Black Knight Financial Services recently released their January, 2017 Home Price Index (HPI) reporting that U.S. home prices were up 5.4% year over year in January and up 0.1% for the month.  In addition, home prices in three of the nation’s 20 largest states (Massachusetts, New York and Washington) and nine of the 40 largest metros hit new peaks (Boston, MA; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Kansas City, MO; Nashville, TN; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA).  The Black Knight HPI utilizes repeat sales data from the nation’s largest public records data set, as well as its…

How Agents and Investors Develop a Mutually Beneficial Relationship By Jennifer Riner Zillow Not every agent is perfect, but a majority of them put their best foot forward when it comes to representing their clients’ best interests. However, many real estate agents are accustomed to dealing with the typical condo or single-family home buyer. Investors have a different approach to buying, which is why both parties should prepare beforehand. In order for agents to tailor their practice toward the unique needs of investors, consider the following tips. Be market savvy Many real estate investors are localized and therefore knowledgeable on…

A recent article by Bloomberg cites research provided by RedFin and the U.S. Census Bureau (and other sources) showing that in 2015, fifty-two of the nation’s 100 largest cities were majority-renter.  In fact, twenty-one of those cities shifted over to the renter-majority column since 2009 alone.  With a shortage of homes on the market it is understandable that renting is taking a greater share of the market, but is that the only dynamic at play?  Bloomberg suggests that the American Dream now increasingly involves a lease, not necessarily a mortgage. “Most low-income families don’t rent by choice, said Nela Richardson,…

The U.S. Federal Government announced that sales of new single-family houses in February 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592k.  This number is 6.1%  above January’s revised rate and is 12.8% higher than February 2016.  The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2017 was $296,200. The average sales price was $390,400.  At the current sales rate there is an approximate supply of 5.4 months of homes on the market. Click here to read the full release.

We’ve posted several stories over the past couple years about where Americans are moving.  After all, real estate investors are best prepared to meet the needs of all those folks looking for new home.  Keeping Current Matters recently put together this handy infographic based on United Van Lines recent moving study.  Happy Friday! Hat tip to Keeping Current Matters.

Data powerhouse CoreLogic is reporting that for 2016, cash sales represented 32.1% of all sales – which is the lowest share seen since 2007.  For December, 2016, cash sales accounted for 33.1% of all home sales, down 1.3 percentage points from December 2015.  In addition, REO sales made up 5.8% and short sales made up 2% in December 2016.  Distressed sales’ share was 7.8% and was the lowest for any month since October 2007.  New York had the largest share of cash sales (47.9%), followed by New Jersey (47.6%), Alabama (46.1%), Michigan (44.3%) and Florida (42.1%). Some takeaways: The full-year…