BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 27, 2019

We recently posted about how strong leasing activity has pushed apartment occupancy levels not seen in nearly 20 years.  Now we have additional data coming from the Mortgage Bankers Association showing that the vacancy rate for single-family owner-occupied homes fell to 1.2% in Q1  – the lowest level since 1995.

“There has been a great deal of attention paid lately to the mismatch between the supply of, and demand for, housing in the United States. According to Census statistics, the U.S. added 1.5 million households during 2018 but built fewer than 1.2 million new housing units. The result is a tightening inventory – not just of homes for sale, but of homes available to occupy.”

Click here to read the full report at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 27, 2019

According to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, the rate of home price increases reported a 3.5% annual gain in April, down from 3.7% in March.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 2.3% and the 20-City Composite posted a 2.5% year-over-year gain.  The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are one of the leading measures of U.S. residential real estate prices, tracking changes in the value of residential real estate both nationally as well as in 20 metropolitan regions.

Click here to read the full report at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 26, 2019

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in May, 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626k, which is 7.8% lower than April’s revised figure.  The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2019 was $308k and the average sales price was $377,200.  There was an estimated 333k new houses for sale at the end of April representing a 6.4 months supply at the current sales rate.

Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 26, 2019

According to recent data from RealPage.com, strong leasing activity this summer has pushed occupancy levels to their highest level in nearly 20 years.  U.S. apartment occupancy hit 96% in May, up 60 basis points (bps) from April.  In addition, they confirm what we’ve already been seeing with annual rent growth holding solid at 3.1% – marking the 10th consecutive month of annual rent growth at 3% or higher.  In addition, the average rent was $1,394 among the 150 largest apartment markets.

“Healthy demand should be reassuring to developers as the number of units under construction nationwide keeps climbing. More than 426,000 units are under construction in the U.S. as of May, which represents 2.4% of the nation’s existing apartment stock. About 363,192 of those units are expected to complete in the next 12 months.”

Click here to read the full report at RealPage.com.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 26, 2019

A Florida investor thought he got a great deal when he was buying a $177k-valued villa for $9,100 at a county property tax auction, but it soon turned into sour grapes.  According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, what he actually purchased was not a villa but a 1-foot by 100-foot strip of land worth about $50 (see arrow in photo below).  Now the buyer wants Broward County to void the deal and claims that the photos were misleading and deceptive.  The land actually contains two mailboxes starting at the curb and then runs under a wall separating the garages of the two adjoining villas and then extends out to the back.  Caveat emptor….

FoxNews: Kerville Holness bid at a Broward County auction of tax-defaulted properties $9,100 for what he thought was a $177,000 villa. What he got was a 1-foot-by-100 foot strip of land. (Google Earth)

Click here to read the story at the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 25, 2019

If there is a way to cheat short-term rental customers out of their money online you can bet that criminals will find a way to exploit it.  A recent story at the Virginia-Pilot (Virginia Beach area) illustrated the growing problem of scammers using sites like Craigslist to surreptitiously list and then rent short-term rental properties that they do not own or control.  One rental home owner in Virginia Beach says he’s had to turn away people already this year who paid someone else to rent one of his summer rentals – which he only lists on Airbnb and VRBO.  He told the Virginia-Pilot that it’s always the same culprit (Craiglist) when he has to turn away families, often with their cars packed full of luggage, beach chairs, umbrellas and toys.

“Craigslist and vacation rental websites like Airbnb have made it easy for homeowners to rent their properties, and for consumers to find them. But the increase in Internet listings has brought more fake listings posted by scammers….”

“On Craigslist, a rental place might be listed at $200 a night, Ramaekers said. “It’s (actually) triple that during the summer. It’s unheard of. That’s what happened. They see these reduced prices and then wire the money and the wired money goes to an account somewhere,” he said.”

Click here to read the full story at the Virginia-Pilot.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 25, 2019

Do you remember the story we posted about the twice-married woman in New York City who was “adopted” at age 58 by an elderly man she befriended so she could stay in his rent-controlled apartment (where he’d been living for at least 85 years, btw)?  Well, as Kathy Fettke reports in a recent episode of Real Estate News for Investors, things just got a lot worse in New York.  She says New York landlords are gearing up for a court battle over new statewide rent control rules that will have a dramatic impact on rent-regulated apartments in New York City, as well as non-rent regulated rental units across the state.  Landlords are planning to fight back with a lawsuit.

Click here to listen on Real Wealth Network.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 24, 2019

Rentcafe reminds us that Baby Boomers certainly don’t fit the mold when it comes to housing preferences because while many are staying put in their houses a growing number have become renters.  So where are the most popular places for them to live?  RentCafe crunched Census data for the 250 largest U.S. cities and then looked at the share and population of Boomers by zip code.  So where are they?

Click here to read the full report at RentCafe.com.

BY BRAD BECKETT ON JUNE 24, 2019

The National Association of Realtors are reporting that existing home sales were up 2.5% in May, marking the first time in two months that there was an increase in sales.  The NAR says that all four major U.S. regions saw a sales growth, with the Northeast experiencing the biggest surge.  The median existing-home price for all housing types was $277,700, up 4.8% from May, 2018.   Total housing inventory at the end of May was 1.92 million, representing a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace.  However, they do point out that while inventory is up, the months’ supply numbers remain near historic lows.

Click here to read the full release at the National Association of Realtors.