Author: Brad Beckett

The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 5.1% annual change for November, 2023.  Their 10-City Composite increased 5.7% and their 20-City Composite increased 5.4%, year-over-year. “U.S. home prices edged downward from their all-time high in November…The streak of nine monthly gains ended in November, setting the index back to levels last seen over the summer months. Seattle and San Francisco reported the largest monthly declines, falling 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively.”  Said Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital assets at S&P DJI. Click here to read the full report at S&P Dow…

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates for Q4, 2023 were 6.6% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing.  The national homeownership rate for Q4 2023 was 65.7%.  In addition, approximately 89.9% of the housing units in the United States in Q4 were occupied and 10.1% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 59.1% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.8% of the inventory.  Vacant year-round units comprised 7.7% of total housing units, while 2.5% were vacant for seasonal use. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Drinks culture site VinePair says while there are new and exciting restaurants opening their doors every week, what about the establishments that have been standing for decades?   To that end, today’s infographic shows us the oldest restaurant in every state.  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! “The majority of the oldest restaurants in the nation were established sometime in the 19th and 20th centuries, and sometimes before their home states even joined the union. Others, like Rhode Island’s The White Horse Tavern and Virginia’s Red Fox Inn predate the United States itself and have an ambiance to prove it.”…

On a recent episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke discusses what Fed officials are saying about rate cuts, reveals the metros with the highest single-family rent growth, the most searched-for metro for rental listings and other news affecting real estate investing. Click here to listen on Spotify.com.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is reporting that America’s real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.3% in Q4 2023.  That figure is 1.6 percentage points lower than Q3’s annualized increase. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies latest report, America’s Rental Housing 2024, climbing rents in recent years propelled US cost burdens to staggering new heights.  They say that in 2022, half of all US renters were cost burdened – an all-time high.  In addition, they say that while rental markets are finally cooling, evictions have risen, the country is seeing the highest homelessness counts on record, and the need for rental assistance is greater than ever. They also point out that aging rental stock requires significant investment to address structural inadequacies, inaccessibility, and climate risks. Their key points:…

According to ATTOM’s Year-End 2023 U.S. Home Sales Report, home sellers made a $121k, profit on the typical sale in 2023, generating a 56.5% return on investment.  However, as the report points out, even as both gross profits and profit margins remained near record levels, they decreased from 2022, marking the first declines in either category since 2011.  ATTOM says the decline happened even as the median nationwide home price rose – albeit at its smallest annual pace in more than a decade. “Last year certainly stood out as another very good year for home sellers across most of the…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales in December, 2023 rose 8.3%.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) came in at 77.3 in December.  In addition, the NAR is projecting a 13% increase in existing-home sales for 2024.  Indeed… “The housing market is off to a good start this year, as consumers benefit from falling mortgage rates and stable home prices…Job additions and income growth will further help with housing affordability, but increased supply will be essential to satisfying all potential demand.” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. Click…

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in December, 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 664k, which is 8% higher than November’s revised rate and is 4.4% higher than one year ago.  The median sales price of new houses sold in December was $413,200 with an average sales price of $487,300.  There were an estimated 453k new houses for sale at the end of December representing a 8.2-month supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

We recently posted the latest inflation numbers, where we saw that the index for shelter was the largest factor in the monthly increase in the index – contributing over half of the monthly all items increase.  Today’s graphic from Statista illustrates the uptick in inflation along with rising housing costs.  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!!! “Due to its weight in the Consumer Price Index, the cost of shelter continues to be a major driver of inflation. Rents and owners’ equivalent rents of residences increased 6.5 and 6.3 percent year-over-year in December, respectively, as the index for shelter climbed…