Author: Brad Beckett

The latest Yardi Matrix is reporting that the average U.S. apartment rent fell in September to $1,219 – the first time since November 2015 that there has been a decrease.  While only dropping $1, the big picture is that it happened during a period of 4.7% year-over-year growth.  According to the report multifamily fundamentals remain strong and occupancy has remained unchanged since May, with demand for multifamily housing remaining high. “Rent growth has significantly outpaced economic expansion and wage growth in the last three years, and the recent deceleration aligns with historical rent growth rates.” Click here to read the…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for October that showed increasing prices for one bedroom apartments in eight of the ten largest rental markets with declines in the two priciest.  One bedrooms dropped -0.9% to a national median price of $1,136, while the two bedrooms dropped 0.6% to a median price of $1,350.  Zumper’s National Rent Report analyzes rental data from over 1 million active listings across the U.S. to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population. “Although rents are still up overall since the beginning of the year, the rental markets have cooled down…

As if we need another reminder about drug abuse and the criminal activity that accompanies it;  A realtor in western New York state recently pleaded guilty to six burglary counts that resulted from stealing narcotic painkillers from homes for sale that she was entering under the guise of a showing.  The Buffalo News is reporting that the now former realtor (her license was revoked) entered multiple homes for sale in the suburban Buffalo area where she would then search for and steal prescription drugs.  It’s one more sobering reminder to always be security conscious and aware of the evils of…

The U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting that construction spending during August, 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.142 trillion, which is 0.7%  below July’s estimate of $1.15 trillion and 0.3% lower than one year ago.  Total construction spending through August was $755.0 billion, which is 4.9% higher than in August, 2015.  Breaking this down a little, private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $449.2 billion in August, 0.3% below July’s revised  estimate of $450.4 billion.  Private nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $422.4 billion in August, 0.4…

Information powerhouse CoreLogic recently released their monthly U.S. Home Price Insights Report that shows home prices are up 6.2% in August (year over year) and up 1.1% from July 2016.   In addition, CoreLogic’s HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 5.3% through August 2017, and increase monthly by 0.4%. “Home prices are now just 6 percent below the nominal peak reached in April 2006,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “With prices forecasted to increase by 5 percent over the next year, prices will be back to their peak level in 2017.” Click here to read…

Recently financial information site GOBankingRates.com surveyed 61 of America’s 100 most populous cities to determine which cities they believe are the best and worst for owning rental property.  Using data from Zillow and the U.S. government, they looked at four major factors in their evaluation;  Employment Growth, Population Growth, Increase in home values, and Years to pay off property.  As with all data like this, take it with the appropriate amount of salt. Click here to read the full story.

By now everyone’s heard of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin – heck, you might even own some.  And no doubt you’ve probably come across the term “blockchain” and wondered what in the world it could possibly be.  Interestingly, the concept of a blockchain was actually created for cryptcurrencies and started with Bitcoin.  In a nutshell, blockchain is a digital, decentralized ledger that keeps a record of all transactions that take place across a peer-to-peer network without a need for a centralized third party.  The exciting and potential uses for this new technology are now being explored.  The folks at PwC put together…

Remember when elevators first started appearing in new homes?  Now the dumbwaiter, a home feature of the nineteenth century might be experiencing its own resurgence.  The Wall Street Journal recently reported that dumbwaiters are making a comeback in new homes and high-end renovations.  Citing data from Realtor.com, they report that 45% of homes with dumbwaiters were built after 1999 versus 8% that were built between 1850 & 1950.  However, they’re not cheap and can cost anywhere from $4k to 12k a pop.  And, as with any emerging technology or trend, the early adopters pay for that privilege.   Either way, it’s…

Black Knight Financial Services released their Home Price Index (HPI) report for July showing home prices were up 0.4% from June and up 5.3% from one year ago.  Currently at $266K, the U.S. HPI has risen over 33% from the market’s bottom and is now within just 0.8% of a new national peak.  The report also shows that home prices in nine of the nation’s 20 largest states and 14 of the 40 largest metros hit new peaks in July. Click here to read the full report at Black Knight.

A recent article on Bloomberg poses the question;  Are mobile homes a solution to an affordable housing shortage?  When you consider that the average sales price of a new mobile home was $68k compared to $380k for a new site-built home it does makes some sense.  Interestingly, mobile homes are highly concentrated in the South however California leads the nation with over 500k of them.  The article even suggests that a re-branding is in order to over come past stigmas – asking, are they the new “tiny house?”  Either way, the manufactured home industry has come a long way in…