Author: Brad Beckett

A new report from Redfin says surging mortgage rates and persistently high home prices are motivating many home buyers to relocate to more affordable areas, but they say migration may slow as the economy continues to soften.  According to their research, 24.2% of homebuyers nationwide looked to move to a different metro area in Q3 – which they say is a record high.  That figure is up from 23.3% in Q2 and 21.6% from one year ago.  Before the pandemic, that number was 18%. “With a recession looming and household expenses high, many people can’t afford to buy a home…

As we’re rounding third and heading for home to close out this year, Realtor.com says “forget simple curb appeal” there are affordable real estate markets that offer some much-needed relief from soaring prices and punishing inflation that are attracting homebuyers.  To get their magic list, Realtor.com analyzed the 300 largest metropolitan areas seeking to identify which might be strong in the coming months, looking at items such as a thriving local economy, low unemployment, competitive wages, short commutes, and easy access to recreational activities.  Indeed…So, where are these red-hot real estate destinations? “Compared to a year ago, home prices are…

On a recent episode of the Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast, Brian Hamrick talks with Jeff Davis, managing partner of Bridgestone Capital, who solves complex supply chain issues for clients all over the globe. Jeff shares his bold predictions on when material and construction costs will come back down to Earth, whether we’ll ever see pre-Covid prices, and whether interest rates really make a difference in real estate investing.  Jeff will also share the one metric that he’s looking at that allows him to see the future of prices from six to nine months out. “If you’ve…

According to the ATTOM Data’s Q4 2022 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, there were 1.3 million (1,277,162) residential properties in the United States sitting vacant, representing 1.3%, or one in 78 homes.  A report also reveals that 270,470 residential properties in the U.S. are in the process of foreclosure in Q3 of this year, up 4.4% from Q2, 2022 and up 25.5% from Q3 of 2021. ATTOM says this latest increase marks the 4th straight quarter that pre-foreclosure properties have increased since a nationwide moratorium on lenders pursuing delinquent homeowners was lifted last July. However, among those pre-foreclosure properties,…

A recent Chart of the Week from the Mortgage Bankers Association says the mortgage payment to rent ratio (which was 1.46 in September) is the highest that it has been since the beginning of their series in 2009, with the chart below illustrating this fact.  The orange line relates the median principal and interest payment to the median asking rent, and the blue line relates the 25th percentile mortgage application payment to the median asking rent.  The MBA points out that, at the 25th percentile for monthly mortgage payments, the ratio is still below a value of 1. Which they…

Recent analysis of new home sales data by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing reveals that the share of cash purchases has climbed in each of the past three quarters to reach a 20-year high of 9.5% (14k sales).  They say this is the first time since 2007 that cash sales accounted for both a larger number as well as a larger share of the total.  In addition, according to the data, new home sales financed through FHA numbered 11k and accounted for 7.5% of the total in Q3 2022 – the smallest share since Q4 of 2007.  The share has…

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates for Q3, 2022 were 6% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing.  The national homeownership rate for Q3, 2022 was 66%.  This figure 0.6% higher than Q2 and virtually unchanged form one year ago.  In addition, approximately 89.3% of the housing units in the United States in Q3 were occupied and 10.7% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 59% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.3% of the inventory.  Vacant year-round units comprised 8.2% of total housing units, while 2% were vacant for seasonal use.…

Statista reminds us that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been called upon rarely since its creation in the 1970s.  In fact there have only been three instances where supply disruptions warranted the President of the United State to order a release: Operation Desert Storm (1991), Hurricane Katrina (2005), and during the so-called Arab Spring (2011) when oil stopped flowing from Libya and other countries. However, last spring, President Joe Biden authorized the release of 180 million barrels until the end of this year and an additional 15 million barrels last month in order to ease increasing gasoline prices.  Indeed…  Be…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in September, 2022 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,811.1 billion, which is 0.2% higher than August’s revised estimate but is 10.9% higher than one year ago.  Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $918 billion in September, which is about the same as August’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the latest CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), U.S. single-family home rental costs posted an 11.4% year-over-year increase in August, marking the 4th straight month of annual deceleration.  However, they do point out rental costs remained elevated, with annual growth running at about 5x the rate in August 2020. In addition they say a shortage of available rental units continues to fuel price growth. “Single-family rent prices in August were 26% higher than before the onset of the pandemic, adding an average of $400 per month to tenants’ monthly costs and compounding other household expenses caused by inflation…While annual…