Author: Brad Beckett

Statista says 50 out of the 75 largest cities in the U.S. are currently running a deficit and, in some cases, a pretty hefty one.   Today’s chart illustrates those cities with the highest municipal debts per taxpayer.  Indeed….Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!! “…despite being obligated to pay employees’ pension and retiree health care benefits when these come up, many cities decide to put off building these funds and even omit the respective items from city balance sheets.” Hat tip to Statista.

Local Market Monitor, a National REIA preferred vendor, recently released their monthly National Economic Outlook where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook By Ingo Winzer February, 2023 Even though the pandemic is winding down, it still affects the economy and our ability to measure it. We don’t know how much recent gains in employment are due to new growth, how much still to covid recovery. The clearest example of the problem is the restaurant sector, which dropped 6 million jobs when covid hit. Before that, restaurant jobs increased about one percent…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales were down 0.7% in January to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4 million (down 36.9% year over year).  Total housing inventory at the end of January was 980k units, up 2.1% from December but was up 15.3% from one year ago.  Unsold inventory sits at a 2.9-month supply at the current sales rate with properties remaining on the market for around 33 days.  The median existing-home price for all housing types in January was $359k, up 1.3% from one year ago.  The NAR said that January marks 131 consecutive…

Recent data crunched by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing says single-family built-for-rent construction ended 2022 strong with a rising total market share.  They say there were approximately 17k single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR) starts during Q4 of 2022 – which was 6% higher than Q4 2021. “With the onset of the Great Recession and declines for the homeownership rate, the share of built-for-rent homes increased in the years after the recession. While the market share of SFBFR homes is small, it has clearly been trending higher. As more households seek lower density neighborhoods and single-family residences, a growing number will do so…

A new report from Redfin says that investor purchases of U.S. homes fell a record 45.8% year over year in Q4 2022.  They said the high cost of borrowing money and the prospect of substantial home-price declines have made real estate investing less attractive. In addition, they point out that the 2nd biggest decline on record occurred in 2008, when investor purchases slumped 45.1% during the subprime mortgage crisis. Some key points: Investor home purchases fell a record 46% year over year in the fourth quarter. Investors bought 18% of homes that sold, down from 19% a year earlier. Pandemic…

Surprise – A recent report from Apartment List says 40% of their users were searching for their next home in a different metro from where they currently reside, and 27% were searching in a new state entirely. Interestingly, they say long-distance moves tend to be more common among higher-income renters.  Apartment List got their numbers from analyzing data on millions of searches showing where their users are looking to move. The report uses searches that took place between January 1 and December 31, 2022. “We see renters searching out of the most expensive parts of the country, such as California…

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Insights (HPI) report, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 6.9% in December 2022. On a month-over-month basis, home prices declined by 0.4% in December compared with November 2022.  CoreLogic predicts that home prices will decrease on a month-over-month basis by 0.2% from December 2022 to January 2023 and on a year-over-year basis by 3% from December 2022 to December 2023.  Indeed… “The continued slowing of home prices at the end of 2022 reflects weaker housing market demand, primarily caused by higher mortgage rates and a more pessimistic economic…

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,309,000, which is 4.5% lower than December’s revised number and 21.4% lower than one year ago.  January’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 457k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,339,000, which is 0.1% below December’s revised number.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 563k in January. Click here to read the full report at the…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that, in Q4 2022, seven of the 10 metro areas with the largest percent gains in existing single-family home prices were in Florida, North or South Carolina and the others were in New Mexico, Texas, and Wisconsin.  And, as we’ve recently seen, those are the places people are flocking to…. Stay safe and have a Happy Friday! Hat tip to the NAR.

On a recent episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke discusses what’s ahead for single-family rentals and build-to-rent homes, the economy and a look at why Los Angeles landlords may be fuming right now, over a new law. A limited supply of new single-family homes will push demand higher for renters, especially among Millennials with growing families….the spotlight is on the Southeast with “continued strong demand and solid performance in BTR, even during 2023, but at an even greater level from 2024 to 2028.” And he says that “Florida is going to be one of the strongest markets……