In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending February 20th, 2021… how rents are doing in smaller markets, whether Opportunity Zones are turning profits, and an easy place to find flood risk data for individual properties.
Every year, California residents face a profusion of new laws, and this year, there are several new laws that will have a big impact on real estate. I’ve covered a few of them before, but they are important enough to mention again along with a few others for our California listeners and for people interested in what California is doing as a potential trend-setter for other states.
The numbers keep going up for the housing market. Redfin reports that competition is so fierce among buyers that a majority of homes are going under contract within two weeks. That’s also driving home prices to new record highs.
Redfin reports that median asking prices are up 10% from a year ago, to a new all-time high of $334,770. It also says that median sale prices are up 15% year-over-year to $318,750.
In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending February 13th, 2021... new comments from the Fed Chief on the risk of inflation, a new extension for government forbearance programs, and a forecast on homebuyer demand.
We begin with economic news from the past week, and Fed Chief Jerome Powell’s commentary about inflation. He spoke before the Economic club of New York saying he doesn’t expect a big jump or a sustained increase in inflation right now. He says: “Inflation has been much lower and more stable over the past three decades than in earlier times. In the 1970’s, when inflation would go up, it would stay up.”
Will it be another great year for single-family homes? After a surge in demand for single-family homes last year, the big question on many investor minds is whether this is “a fad or a real trend.” The Urban Land Institute and PWC just published a yearly report on real estate trends, with some insights on where the single-family market may be headed.
With eviction moratoriums in place for nearly a year now, one might assume that investing in rental property would not be prudent. If people lose their jobs and can't pay rent, how can the landlord pay for their bills like the mortgage, property taxes and insurance? Yet, in spite of these unprecedented challenges, some metro areas have actually seen rents rise - according to a recent CoreLogic report that tracks rent collections.
In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending February 6th, 2021... new record-highs for Houston real estate, good news about renter credit scores, and a big “first” for the 3D printing of homes.
We begin with economic news from this past week and the latest job market reports. New applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in nine weeks. The government says that 779,000 people filed for state unemployment benefits during the last week of January.