Author: Brad Beckett

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), mortgage credit availability increased 0.4% in February 2017 and reached its highest level since 2007.  The MCAI measures the quantity and quality of mortgage credit supplied to the market over time and for different segments of the market.  A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit. “The increase in February was the net result of two countervailing movements.  There was an increase in the supply of credit, as more investors offered affordable low down payment mortgages and…

You read that headline right…..Flipping is back and it’s at a 10 year high.  According to ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2016 Year-End U.S. Home Flipping Report, 193,009 single family homes & condos were flipped in 2016.  That number is up 3.1% from 2015 and is the highest level since 2006 – which saw 276,067 flips.  Overall, home flips accounted for 5.7% of all single family home and condos sales in 2016 – up from 5.5% from 2015.  In addition to all that,  homes flipped in 2016 sold for a median price of $189,900, a gross flipping profit of $62,624 above the…

Spring is just around the corner which means it’s a great time to begin thinking about your property’s landscaping.  The folks over at The Home Depot put together this handy infographic with their fertilization tips for Spring…..Happy Friday!

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for March showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,142 and $1,353 for a 2-bedroom apartment.  San Francisco continues to dominate their National Rent Index of 100 cities at $3,270/$4500 with Toledo, Ohio rounding out the bottom at $440/$560.  Zumper says that “Rent prices this month experienced mixed changes across the nation’s top 100 rental markets….[and in their top 10 cities]  about half of the cities’ prices went up while the other half went down.” Click here to read the full report on Zumper.com.

Mashable is reporting that a 3D printing company in Russia has made the world’s first 3D-printed house – in less than 24 hours to boot.  The concrete home is designed to last about 175 years and cost about $10k to build.  It’s an interesting development that certainly paves the way even more innovation in the housing market. Either way, it’s a pretty cool video to watch. Click here to read the full story on Mashable.

The National Association of Realtors recently reported that cash composed 23% of all sales in January.  Of those all-cash buyers, 59% of them were investors, whose buying activity comprised 15% of the cash sales total.  Interestingly, 57% of the all-cash buyers were foreigners.  The data was part of the January 2017 NAR’s Confidence Index Survey Report, a monthly survey about their sales activity and local market conditions. “Buyers of homes for investment purposes, distressed sales, second homes, and foreign clients are more likely to pay cash than first-time home buyers. As the shares of investment and distressed sales have declined,…

The most recent edition of CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast shows that home sales prices were up 6.9% year over year (compared with January 2016) and are up 0.7% from December 2016.  The CoreLogic HPI Forecast predicts that home prices will increase by 4.8% (year-over-year basis from January 2017 to January 2018) and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase by 0.1%  from January 2017 to February 2017. “With lean for-sale inventories and low rental vacancy rates, many markets have seen housing prices outpace inflation,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Over…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that nationwide rent prices stayed steady over the past month with the current median 1-bedroom rent coming in at $1,003.  New Orleans lead the list of the biggest increases, with a 9.1% climb.  Philadelphia, PA topped the list of the biggest decreases with a -9.7% drop in their median one-bedroom rent.  ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and then track the month-over-month percentage change. To avoid small sample sizes, they restrict their analysis to cities meeting minimum…

The U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting that total construction spending in January was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,18 trillion, which is 3.1% higher than January, 2016’s number.  Private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $476.4 billion in January, 0.5% higher than December’s number. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $435.3 billion in January, nearly the same as December estimate of $435.4 billion.  Public construction spending was $268.7 billion in January. Click here to read the full release.

During the first week of March Dr. Ben Carson became the 17th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – a federal agency with over 8k employees and a $40 billion annual budget. DR. BEN CARSON SWORN IN AS HUD SECRETARY WASHINGTON – Dr. Ben S. Carson, Sr. was sworn in today as the 17th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office with Secretary Carson’s wife Candy and granddaughter Tesora holding the bible. Secretary Carson will now lead a cabinet agency with approximately 8,000…