Author: Brad Beckett

Interesting data comes in all shapes and forms and can be a good (or bad) industry indicator as well as a pulse on the economy.  Remodeling Magazine is reporting that new research from the Freedonia Group says that nationwide demand for residential windows and doors will rise 6.0% per year and become a $25.6 billion market by 2020.   The report said residential window & door demand in 2015 was $19.06 billion, reflecting an annual growth of 5.9% since 2010.  Who knew doors & windows could be this exciting? “Through 2020, continued growth in new housing construction is projected to drive…

Corelogic has released their Home Price Index and HPI Forecast for June 2016 showing that home prices are up 5.7%, year over year (which includes distressed sales) as well as increasing 1.1% month over month.  In addition,  CoreLogic’s HPI Forecast predicts that home prices will increase by 5.3% on a year-over-year basis from June 2016 to June 2017, and on a month-over-month basis by 0.6%. “Mortgage rates dipped in June to their lowest level in more than three years, supporting home purchases….Local markets with strong economic growth have generally had stronger home-price growth. Among large metropolitan areas, Denver had the lowest…

Last Friday, President Obama signed The Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act of 2016 which is the first comprehensive update to the nation’s low-income housing programs in 18 years as well as requiring the FHA to reform their condo financing regulations and make low-down-payment FHA loans more available to moderate-income buyers.   Both the House and the Senate passed the legislation unanimously.  This bill has been in the works for 10 years.  And while the bill was not earth shattering, it could be a signal that Republicans and Democrats are open to more housing reform bills – especially considering its unanimous…

Yes, you read the subject line correctly.  Citing a recent study from NYU, Harvard and Facebook, CNBC is reporting that decisions people make about buying property are heavily influenced by their participation in social networks – in particular Facebook.  According to the report, if someone’s Facebook friends experience increases in their house price, they are more likely themselves to invest in property over the next couple years.  Talk about peer-pressure, the study suggested a significant impact on local housing markets, in aggregate.  The report looked at home pricing and volume data from 831 counties (covering 1998 to 2012) as well…

We’ve seen some pretty interesting data from personal saving and comparison website WalletHub.  Recently they analyzed & ranked 150 of America’s largest cities for their rental attractiveness and quality of life to come up with the Best & Worst Cities for Renters.  They utilized 15 key metrics ranging from historical rental-price changes, cost of living and jobs availability drawn from a variety of public & private data resources. Top 10 cities: Scottsdale, AZ Overland Park, KS Chandler, AZ Tempe, AZ Gilbert, AZ Plano, TX Las Vegas, NV Peoria, AZ Phoenix, AZ Tampa, FL Bottom 10 cities: Los Angeles, CA Moreno…

Corelogic is reporting that cash sales represented 31.6% of all home sales in April 2016.  This figure is 2.8 percentage points less than April 2015.  On a month-over-month basis, the cash sales share fell by 1.6 percentage points in April 2016 compared with March 2016. For the first four months of 2016, the cash sales share averaged 33.9%, the lowest start to any year since 2008. The cash sales share peaked in January 2011 when cash transactions accounted for 46.6% of total home sales nationally. Click here to read the full report on CoreLogic.

With back to school being just around the corner it’s time to revisit that age-old investment question; Should you buy rental property in a college town?  The good folks over at FortuneBuilders recently put together this handy chart that takes on that very issue.  However, there are many things to consider and several questions you need to ask yourself before taking this potentially lucrative plunge……Happy Friday! Click here to read more on FortuneBuilders.com

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau announced this week that national vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2016 were 6.7% for rental housing and 1.7% for homeowner housing. Both numbers are virtually the same from last quarter. The national homeownership was 62.9%, which was 0.6% lower than the previous quarter – the lowest level since 1965. Click here to read the full report at Census.gov.

Is Facebook getting into the landlording business?  Gizmodo is reporting that the social media giant is proposing to build 1500+ housing units as part of the planned expansion of their headquarter in Menlo Park, California.  The proposed units will not just be restricted to Facebook employees, but also available to members of the general public.   Their mixed-income development plan calls for 15% of the units going to low to middle income families.  Silicon Valley has been experience a housing shortage for years and is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Understandably, skeptics abound: “Facebook has…

As the Democrats meet in Philadelphia this week to nominate Hillary Clinton for President, there is an undercurrent of distrust for disruptive technologies like Uber and Airbnb.  While Airbnb estimated that over 5k people would utilize their service this week for the Democratic National Convention, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) recently called on the Federal Trade Commission to probe Airbnb-type rentals.  A letter to the FTC that she-co-authored, said “We are concerned that short-term rentals may be exacerbating housing shortages and driving up the cost of housing in our communities.”  Meanwhile Airbnb is hoping to earn goodwill from the party through…