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...]
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...]
Real Estate Firms Remain Optimistic
Good news: the vast majority of real estate firms have an optimistic outlook for the future of the industry’s profitability and growth, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) 2016 Profile of Real Estate Firms. Profitability expectations have declined from the 2015 survey, mainly due to inventory shortages and home-price growth, … [Read more...]
The Importance of International Real Estate Activity
International real estate activity remains positive as foreign buyers continue to view the U.S. as a desirable place to own property. According to the National Association of REALTORS®' 2016 Profile of International Activity, U.S. residential real estate sales to international clients accounted for $102 billion between April 2015 and March … [Read more...]
It's Time to Buy
Good news for current and potential homeowners: while renters are paying more, affordability is improving for those who own their homes. The number of cost-burdened homeowners declined in 2014 for the fourth consecutive year while today low-income renters are getting squeezed out by the more affluent. Three of California’s cities appear on a list … [Read more...]
Loan Originations at a High, More Homes For Sale Soon
Real estate predictions for the coming years are generally positive. With strong home sales, near-historic low interest rates, a refi boom, and steady home price appreciation, Freddie Mac's economic team projects that mortgage loan originations will scale nearly $2 trillion for 2016. The projections from the current edition of the company's … [Read more...]
Housing Barely Budging
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has conducted its Housing Market Index (HMI), which it produces in conjunction with Wells Fargo, for the past 30 years. The HMI is derived from new-home builder survey responses which in July reported an utterly static outlook. "For the past six months, builder confidence has remained in a … [Read more...]
The Fed's Possible Interest Rate Increase
The Federal Reserve's path to a rate increase is a treacherous one: a path paved with easy money from other global central banks and lined with a gauntlet of possible hazards. The markets may not believe the Fed will actually raise interest rates this year, but it may surprise them with at least one hike late in the year. In fact, there could be … [Read more...]
Spring Buying Season & The Millennial Shift
Millennials are the first generation to come of age in the post-recession housing market in a relatively positive light. Yet the No. 1 barrier to entry for young, would-be homebuyers? Credit. "The mortgage industry is poised to experience a monumental shift as more millennial homebuyers begin to enter the market," said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice … [Read more...]