Editorial Staff
Home prices continue slowing, but up year over year topped by Dallas and Denver
Dallas and Denver home prices reached new highs in the latest data through March, released by by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller[1] Home Price Indices, according to a release from PRNewswire. The report shows the 10-City and 20-City Composite Indices gained 0.8% and 0.9% month-over-month. In the first ...
Mortgage rates drop for second week in a row
The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to 4.37 percent in Bankrate's weekly national survey, the company said in a release. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.30 discount and origination points. SURVEY RESULTS 30-year fixed: 4.37% -- down from 4.44% last week (avg. points: 0.30) 15-year ...
American Homes 4 Rent announces another public offering
American Homes 4 Rent, the second largest owner of single-family rental homes in the country, announced another public offering of its series C preferred shares that will be made available as the company continues to buy single family rental homes across the country. The company announced in a release "investors ...
Poll says Americans believe real estate is the best long-term investment
Housing prices are improving in many parts of the country and a new Gallup Poll says Americans now say real estate is the best long-term investment ranking ahead of stocks and gold. The economy and personal finances poll in early April asked Americans to choose the best option for long-term ...
Mortgage rates continue to drop
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.43 this week, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.33 discount and origination points. To see mortgage rates in your area, go to http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/mortgages/. The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 3.48 percent, while ...
Lowest total in two years, but 9 million residential properties are still underwater
RealtyTrac reports that 17 percent of U.S. residential properties with a mortgage are still seriously "underwater" meaning the combined loan amount on the property is 25 percent or more above the current market value on nine million homes. “U.S. homeowners are continuing to recover equity lost during the Great Recession, ...
Shadow housing inventory continues down hitting lowest level in three years
The number of distressed residential housing properties continues down as the value of the shadow inventory has dropped $70 billion in the past year reflecting the progress states are making on the foreclosure front, according to a new report from CoreLogic. Foreclosures are down 35% year over year. Shadow inventory ...
Housing shortage in key markets will boost prices
New quarterly data from Local Market Monitor identifies some key markets, including three Texas cities leading the list, that could be prime targets for investors in single family rental properties, according to a release. Topping the list are Fort Worth, Houston and Austin . “The economy has been growing quickly ...
Listhub.com to expand property listings to local MLS publishers starting in Texas
Property listings are going to get wider distribution starting in Texas as a result of an announcement that ListHub.com, a provider of property listings and performance metrics in real estate, is expanding. Move, Inc., owned by Realtor.com will expand their Real Estate Network (REN) syndication of property listings to consumer-facing ...
The largest landlords of single-family rental homes form trade group
The nation's largest group of landlords owing single-family rental homes has formed a new trade group called the National Rental Home Council. Colony American Homes, Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent, and Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust are the founding members of the new group. While small real estate investors own ...
57% of boomers plan to move out of their current home
A new survey released today says 57 percent of boomers plan to move out of their current home and 70 percent believe the house they retire in will be the best home in which they have ever lived, according to a release from Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate by ...
New survey: People feeling more confident about net worth and finances
People are feeling a little more confident about their personal financial situation, net worth and job security according to the latest survey from Bankrate.com which is good news for real estate investors. The Bankrate Financial Security Index was up three points in March to 102.2, from 99.3 last month. That ...
Foreclosures drop to lowest level in seven years but zombie properties still a problem
The foreclosure rate has fallen to the lowest level in more than seven years, but auctions are still up annually in 19 states RealtyTrac said in its latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for February 2014. The report which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — ...
Where landlords still offer city apartments for under $1,000 a month
Landlords are still offering studio apartments in many cities for around $1,000 a month, according to a new survey from Apartments.com. Even in some of the largest and most expensive cities, rents of around $1,000 a month can be found in nearby neighborhoods or suburbs or by tenants committing to ...
Apartments.com sold to CoStar Group
Classified Ventures, LLC ("CV"), a leading provider of digital marketing solutions in the automotive and apartment rental categories, has entered into an agreement to sell its Apartments.com business for $585 million in cash to CoStar Group, Inc., a leading provider of commercial real estate research and information services. The sale ...
Local Market Monitor’s analysis of what fourth quarter report means for real estate
By Ingo Winzer Local Market Monitor Estimates for GDP in the fourth quarter paint a positive picture, even though total growth was at a modest 2.4 percent annual rate after a 4.1 percent third quarter. Most encouraging is that personal spending was a good part of the growth. Last quarter, ...
Home prices up 12% year over year
Home prices across the country increased 12 percent in January of this year compared to January 2013, marking 23 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally, according to a release from CoreLogic. “The last time January month-over-month and year-over-year price appreciation was this strong was at the height ...
Sales of new homes in January highest in five years
Sales of new homes jumped unexpectedly in January despite bad weather in many parts of the country according to the U.S. Census Bureau, to the highest levels since January of 2008. “I’m hopeful the recovery in home sales will get back on track in the next couple of months,” said ...
A letter from Warren Buffett: What you can learn about my real estate investing
Warren Buffett tells a personal story about two of his non-stock investments in an article on CNN Money. The story involves two real estate purchases, when and why he bought them, and how they have performed over time. "There is one major difference between my two small investments and an ...
Foreclosure filings up slightly for January
Foreclosures were up slightly in January, but still down 18 percent from January of last year, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. "The monthly increase in January foreclosure activity was somewhat expected after a holiday lull, but the sharp annual increases in some states shows that many states are ...
Mortgage rates post first increase of 2014
Mortgage rates broke a five-week long streak of declines, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate increasing 4.48 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.33 discount and origination points. The average 15-year fixed mortgage notched higher to 3.53 percent, and ...
Millionaires moving to increase real estate investment in 2014
Real estate is the top alternative investment millionaires are considering this year according to a new report from Morgan Stanley. “After a year where the Standard & Poor’s Index rose 30 percent, some millionaires are moving money out of traditional, long-only strategies to find outperformance, and turning toward alternatives such ...
What do the growing number of single-family rentals say about the housing market?
Housing Wire magazine has a headline asking whether real estate investor home sales mask a weak housing market, and whether the hype has gotten ahead of the underlying fundamentals. Also, the article asks what has been the real role of large institutional purchases. Writer Trey Garrison interviews several experts, including ...
Home “flips” up 16% in 2013 with average gross profit of $62,000
RealtyTrac's latest report for 2013 shows flips were up, but as many serious investors know, still represented only 4.6 percent of all U.S. single-family sales during the year. Their report shows 156,862 single family home flips — where a home is purchased and subsequently sold again within six months — ...
Another company plans offering in bonds secured by single-family rentals
American Homes 4 Rent is joining the Blackstone Group in providing bonds for investors backed by single-family rental homes, the New York Times and CNBC are reporting. This is part of the growing trend by Wall Street to find a new way to secure debt tied to single family rental ...
