Author: Brad Beckett

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for December showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,129 and $1,340 for a 2-bedroom apartment.  San Francisco continues to dominate their National Rent Index of 100 cities at $3,300/$4500 with Toledo, Ohio rounding out the bottom at $440/$550. “During this past month, we continued to see the polarizing trend in the rental market that has emerged in the past few months, as rents in the most expensive markets were mostly flat or down, while rents in many other major markets were on the rise.” Click here to read…

As if being poor weren’t bad enough, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has decided to ban smoking in all units of public housing (approximately 225k), across the country.  The new rule is to be implemented over the next 18 months and was first proposed by HUD in the Fall of 2015.  Of course residents who choose to smoke can go outside and/or to designated areas.  Their rationale, as is often the case with regulations is this kind, is to help the children. “Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, healthy home free from harmful second-hand…

The U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting that construction spending during October, 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,172 trillion which is 0.5% above September’s number and 3.4% higher than one year ago.  Total spending through October was $972.2 billion, 4.5% higher than one year ago.  Breaking this down a little, private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $885.9 billion in October, 0.2% below September’s number.  Private nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $466.2 billion in October, 1.6% higher than September.  Nonresidential private construction was at a seasonally…

What is the purchasing power of women when it comes to buying a home?  Mortgage insurer MGIC recently pulled together the following data to illustrate the purchasing power of women when it comes to homebuying.  After all, the 2nd largest group of homebuyers, after married couples, are single women.  Happy Friday! Click here to read the full story on MGIC.

According to apartment data provider REIS the national apartment market’s vacancy rate was 4.4% in Q4 2016.  In their data from the top 50 apartment markets, they report new construction levels that haven’t been seen since 1998.  In addition, they predict vacancies to modestly rise for the next 5 years and a drop off in construction starting at or around late 2018.  Reis covers Apartment markets throughout the nation, collecting property level structural information such as year built, year renovated, size, and unit mix, as well as performance information such as rental and vacancy rates. Click here to read…

The folks over at Realtor.com recently came up with a list of five trends that they believe will shape the world of real estate in 2017.  As in years past, their economic team analyzed economic indicators and market data to come up with their predictions for the coming year.  Be sure to read the full article to get the gist of their predictions.  Remember….everyone has a crystal ball. “With more than 95% of first-time home buyers dependent on financing their home purchase, and a majority of first-time buyers reporting one or more financial challenges, the uptick we’ve already seen may…

This week S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller released their National Home Price Index which showed that home prices rose 5.5% in September, year over year (up 0.4% from August).  Their 10-City Composite posted a 4.3% annual increase and their 20-City Composite reported a year-over-year gain of 5.1%.  Seattle, Portland, and Denver reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities over each of the last eight months. 12 cities reported greater price increases in the year ending September 2016 versus the year ending August 2016. “The new peak set by the S&P Case-Shiller CoreLogic National Index will be seen as marking a…

In their “first look” report for October 2016, Black Knight Financial Services is reporting that foreclosure starts have hit their lowest level since January 2005.  According to the report, October saw were 56,500 foreclosure starts (lowest in nearly 12 years) as well as a lower prepayment level than September.  Black Knight gathers its month-end mortgage performance statistics from its loan-level database representing the majority of the national mortgage market. Click here to read the full report.

A couple from California had their Thanksgiving week Airbnb vacation in New York City disrupted when tenants in the building where they had planned to stay objected to their presence.  The New York Post is reporting that when the couple arrived at their rented flat they were confronted by a hostile neighbor who demanded to know why they were there and where they were staying.  According to the article, the resident threatened to call the police as well as knock on their door “all night long” in order to voice their opposition.  Interestingly, the very same day they booked their…

Just before Thanksgiving a federal judge in Texas issued an order blocking implementation of Department of Labor rules that would extend overtime regulations to cover millions of additional workers, scheduled to take effect on December 1st.   The judge ruled that, under current law, the USDOL cannot decide which workers are eligible for overtime based on salary levels alone.  The original case was filed last September by twenty-one states and various business groups arguing that 2015’s new overtime rules were violation of the constitution and exceeded congressional authority. Further reading: “Judge blocks Obama rule extending overtime pay to 4.2 million U.S.…