Author: Brad Beckett

The creative folks over at howmuch.net recently took data from a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report and turned it into an insighful 3D visualization of GDP growth by metropolitan area.  The higher the cone rising out of the map, the greater the GDP growth in that area. “The BEA numbers showed that GDP grew in 282 of the 381 metropolitan areas. This growth was fueled by a number of industry groups led by professional and business services, wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance and real estate.” Click here to read the full article on howmuch.net.

According to a new report from MarketWatch the number of real estate appraisers stands to substantially decease over the next five years, which could mean longer waits, higher fees and even lower-quality appraisals as more appraisers cross state lines to value properties. According to the Appraisal Institute: There are 78,500 real estate appraisers working in the U.S. – which is 20% less than in 2007 62% of appraisers are 51 and older, 24% are between 36-50, and 13% are 35 or younger The requirements to become certified have also increased as classes & years of apprenticeship are now required for…

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported today that while US housing starts fell to a 7-month low, a surge in building permits suggested that the housing market remains on solid ground.  In addition, October marked the seventh straight month that housing starts remained above the 1 million unit mark (the longest stretch since 2007) which still suggests a housing market recovery. Some takeaways: Single-family authorizations in October were at a rate of 711k; this is 2.4 percent (±1.5%) above the revised September figure of 694k. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of…

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey, the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter was 1.88 percent, down 21 basis points from the second quarter and 51 basis points lower than one year ago. This was the lowest foreclosure inventory rate seen since the third quarter of 2007.  In addition, the percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started during the third quarter was 0.38%, a decrease of two basis points from the previous quarter, and down six basis points from one year ago. The foreclosure starts rate…

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the FHA’s minimum reserve requirement  was met for the firs time since 2009.  The WSJ heralds this achievement as another sign of the housing market’s continuing recovery. “The Federal Housing Administration, which backs low-down-payment mortgages popular with first-time home buyers, said its insurance fund’s net worth at the end of September was $23.8 billion, up from a year-earlier level of $4.8 billion. Its capital reserve ratio, which by law is required to stay above 2%, rose to 2.07%, the first time it met the threshold since the start of the agency’s 2009…

From the Fiscal Times:  Number four on their list is an issue National REIA has been working to achieve: “Republican presidential hopefuls have talked often this year about overhauling the tax code by lowering rates and closing loopholes. Many of those loopholes have become the subject of an annual game in which Congress waits until the last minute — or longer — to reinstate the supposedly temporary provisions after they’ve expired. The full package of 52 tax breaks, also known as tax extenders, mostly affect business and industry, but quite a few also allow everyday Americans to reduce how much…

Building industry news-site Builderonline.com reports that the U.S. Fire Administration said, in 2014, that 2,419 Americans could have used more time to get out of their homes during an incidence of fire. That number represents the number of people who died in residential fires.  The article says that overall fire fatalities are down (3,900 people died in homes in 2004) having fallen 26% from 2002 to 2011.   However, they report that as fatalities fell, evidence exists that new a threat lurks in the form of new, modern homes & furnishings that present dangers not found in homes built a generation…

This week the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced an expansion of its Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative (NSI) to 18 additional metropolitan areas around the country.  Effective December 1, local community organizations will be given the opportunity to review and purchase foreclosed properties owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac in these 18 additional metropolitan areas prior to these properties being made publicly available for purchase. Sales prices will vary from market to market.  The additional markets are in metros where Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each had at least 100 REO properties valued at less than $75k. NSI was jointly…

RealtyTrac reported in its 2015 Natural Disaster Risk Report that 35.8 million U.S. single family homes & condos with a combined estimated market value of $6.6 trillion are in counties with high or very high natural hazard risk. Those 35.8 million homes represent 43 percent of the 83.4 million single family homes & condos. For the report RealtyTrac assigned a natural disaster risk score to 2,318 counties nationwide with sufficient home value data available. Based on its score, each county was assigned to one of five risk categories for overall risk of natural disaster: Very High, High, Moderate, Low and…

The New York Times is reporting that smoking would be prohibited in public housing nationwide under a rule recently proposed by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development.  The proposal would affect nearly one million households and open the latest front in the long-running campaign to curb unwanted exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. It would require housing agencies to prohibit lit cigarettes, cigars & pipes in all living units, indoor common areas, administrative offices and all outdoor areas within 25 feet of housing and administrative office buildings. The rule would not apply initially to electronic cigarettes, but federal officials…