Buyer traffic is likely increasing so much because of the severe shortage of existing homes for sale. Realtors are reporting the lowest supply on record and are not expecting the situation to improve anytime soon. While housing starts did rise steadily throughout 2017, they did so very moderately and are still not close to historically normal … [Read more...]
Picking Up the PACE
bill aimed at regulating loans created by the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program is making national industry headlines. The PACE Act of 2017 aims to amend the Truth in Lending Act, a chief regulation governing big banks and mortgage companies, to include PACE lenders. If the bill is passed, PACE lenders would be forced to disclose to … [Read more...]
Spring Buying Season is Sweet and Sour
The divide between the prices of homes Americans want to buy and the inventory of such homes is growing, suggesting first-time home buyers and high-end sellers might have a difficult year ahead of them. The result is likely to be swiftly rising prices at the low end and challenges for first-time buyers, and sluggish price increases and lingering … [Read more...]
The California Housing Crisis
The backlash comes as California’s lack of housing supply is becoming a crisis. A postwar building boom gave birth to a labyrinth of freeways and sprawling suburbs, and between 1980 and 2010, coastal metro areas in California added new housing units at about half the rate of the typical U.S. metro area. Our golden state of California seems to be … [Read more...]
The Great Divide
Urban areas have benefited in recent years from an influx of younger workers seeking high-paying jobs. At the same time, land-use regulations have constricted supply, helping drive up prices. While the wealthiest homeowners had a rocky ride during the past decade, their homes have recovered most or all of the value they lost during the … [Read more...]
Virtual Reality for a Seller’s Market
Sellers in the current housing landscape often have the luxury of listing their homes “as is” without fixing it up or with only minimal window-dressing since demand for homes has been high and inventory low. It’s common for sellers to receive multiple bids, and in the hottest markets, sell for over asking price. An inventive idea is just the … [Read more...]
Declining Housing Affordability & the California Economy
For the first time in nearly a year, declining housing affordability topped lack of inventory as realtors’ number one concern, with 26% stating they were concerned about low housing affordability. However, worries over a tight housing supply were not too far behind, with 19% indicating their concern. Looking toward 2017, the California realtor … [Read more...]
Home Flipping in California
Nearly 40,000 people flipped their properties in the second quarter this year – the most since the second quarter of 2007, according to a recent report from ATTOM Data Solutions. The company analyzed public sales deeds of more than 950 counties, representing 80% of the U.S. population, on homes that were bought and then sold within a 12-month … [Read more...]