Market & Trends

The world of real estate investing moves quickly. Catch the must-know news, market information, and trends for the industry here.

Back To: All Topics 

Market & Trends

The world of real estate investing moves quickly. Catch the must-know news, market information, and trends for the industry here.

Back To: All Topics 

The millennial generation represents the largest group of home buyers in new study

Millennials represent the largest share of recent home buyers, new study says

The millennial generation represented the largest share of recent buyers, despite the economic and financial challenges young adults have faced since the recession, according to a release from the National Association of Realtors. The 2015 National Association of Realtors Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study, found that an overwhelming majority ...
Foreclosures down 33 percent in the past year according to CoreLogic

Foreclosure inventory down 33 percent in the past year

Foreclosure inventory declined 33 percent year over year according to the latest research in a release from CoreLogic. "Job growth and home-value appreciation have worked to push the serious delinquency rate to the lowest since mid-2008 and foreclosures down by one-third from a year ago," Frank Nothaft, chief economist at ...
Doug Duncan chief economist for Fannie Mae says consumers are not yet ready to move on housing

Consumer confidence toward homeownership continuing to grow, new study says

Most consumers expect home rental prices to continue to rise in the next year, but 43 percent still think it is too difficult to get a mortgage, according to a release of the Fannie Mae February 2015 National Housing Survey. "Continuing improvements in consumer attitudes in this month's National Housing ...
David Blitzer

Home prices up moderately in the West, but housing recovery continues to falter new study says

San Francisco, Denver and Miami were the strongest, but overall nine cities reported monthly home price increases in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price data for December 2014, according to a release from PRNewswire. The 10-city composite gained 4.3% year-over-year, up from 4.2% in November. The 20-city composite gained 4.5% year-over-year, ...
HomeVestors announces top performing franchisees for 2014

Winners of HomeVestors 2014 top performance awards for franchisees announced

HomeVestors, with more than 540 franchises in 42 states,  has announced the accomplishments of franchisees with top performance award for the 12-month ranking period in 2014 in a release. HomeVestors franchises bought 5,000 houses with a total sales volume of $474,000,000. HomeVestors is the number one buyer of houses in ...
Sam Khater deputy chief economist for CoreLogic

Completed foreclosures continue to decline, new study says

Completed foreclosures continued to decline in December 2014 to 39,000 for the month, down 5 percent from November and down almost 14 percent year-over-year,  according to a a release of a new study from CoreLogic. The 12-month sum of completed foreclosures for 2014, at 563,294, is at its lowest point ...
5 red flags to help you avoid becoming a victim of real estate investment fraud

5 red flags to help you avoid becoming a victim of real estate investment fraud

A caution on real estate investment scams, typically spread by word-of-mouth, has been issued in a release by The Florida Office of Financial Regulation. “Real estate investment scams typically spread by word-of-mouth and require consumers to invest large sums of money in investment properties. This type of scam promises a ...
Brad Long, president of apartments.com, renters will not pay more despite increasing rental rates

Renters say they will not spend more on rent despite increasing rental rates

While rents continue to rise around the country, the rate of growth is slowly decreasing. According to CoStar, the real estate industry's leading provider of information, analytics and online marketplaces, the average cost of rent nationwide increased by 0.64 percent to $1,194 a month in the fourth quarter of 2014—down ...
Mortgage rates remain unchanged in latest Bankrate survey

Mortgage rates remain steady, but worry over increase remains

Mortgage rates were little changed, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate holding at 3.80 percent, according to a release of Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.30 discount and origination points. The survey is complemented by Bankrate's weekly Rate Trend Index, in which ...
Texas housing has second best year in 2014

Second best year on record in 2014 for Texas real estate

The Texas housing market closed out 2014 with one of the highest fourth-quarter single-family home sales volumes in Texas real estate history, according to a release from the Texas Association of Realtors. "A dip in mortgage interest rates below four percent in the last half of 2014 created an ideal ...
Doug Duncan chief economist for Fannie Mae says consumers are not yet ready to move on housing

Economy will drag housing upward in 2015 says Fannie Mae

Driven by strengthening private domestic demand, economic growth is expected to accelerate modestly this year and drag last year's unspectacular housing activity upward, according to a release by  Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group. The economy is expected to climb to 3.1 percent in 2015, up from the ...
Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, says more low-end homes will come on the market in 2015.

Many lower-end sellers now in a position to put homes on the market

Many homeowners in the bottom third of their markets are finally in a position to sell, just in time for Millennials to enter the housing market in greater numbers in 2015, Zillow Real Estate Market reports predicts in the release. Homes in the bottom third of home values bottomed out ...
Affinity Enterprise Group

Affinity Media Group acquires Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine

Affinity Media Services (AMS), a division of real estate investment market leader Affinity Enterprises Group (AEG), announced Friday that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with NEXZUS Publishing Group, the publisher of Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine, PREI Investor Review Series and The Invaluable Investor Study; and promoter ...
Rick Sharga of Auction.com says real estate investors more likely to flip when buying at auction

Flipping slightly edges out buy-to-rent investing when buying at auction new study says

A new study shows a slight inclination for real estate investors to lean toward flipping rather than buying to rent, although investor intent varies by the type of auction and the investor's individual profile and business model. The nationwide survey of real estate investors bidding on properties at auction in ...
10 current trends real estate investors need to know blog by Larry Arth

10 current trends real estate investors need to know about

Real estate is like anything else that is cyclical in nature, with trends always changing. Over the years I have learned what is important to watch for, not just for today but also what is coming down the pipeline, sort of like having a dashboard perspective of the investing arena ...
7 ways to keep the tenants you already have

Rehabs, gurus and tenants: the top 5 real estate investing blogs of 2014

Here are the top 5 real estate investing blogs of 2014 as selected by the users of our website:   The 7 best renovations for your rental properties The two biggest variables in rental property ownership are dealing with vacancies and how long it takes you or yourproperty manager to ...
Doug Duncan chief economist for Fannie Mae says consumers are not yet ready to move on housing

Consumers not ready to move on housing despite improving economy

Americans are becoming more optimistic about the economy, but consumer confidence toward the housing market is lagging, according to results from Fannie Mae's December 2014 National Housing Survey. Likely bolstered by a strengthening employment sector, the share of consumers who believe the economy is headed in the right direction improved ...
2015 real estate outlook from Local Market Monitor

2015 real estate outlook from Local Market Monitor

By Ingo Winzer Local Market Monitor Despite low interest rates, low inflation, and an economy that has steadily expanded, new and existing home sales - and therefore mortgage and home equity lending - have languished. Part of the reason is a high level of consumer debt that keeps many potential ...
Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, gives his 2015 predictions for real estate growth for real estate investors

4 predictions for real estate and investors in 2015

Home value growth will slow to around 3 percent per year instead of the 6 percent seen recently, and that will make real estate less attractive to many investors, says Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow. “It's been a tough market for home buyers," Humphries said in a story in ...
HomeVestors passes 60,000 home purchase milestone in 2014

HomeVestors reaches 60,000 home-purchase milestone

HomeVestors continued as the leader in home buying in the U.S.,  passing the milestone of 60,000 homes purchased since the company was founded, according to a release. The company also reported a surge in new company franchisees during 2014 passing the mark of more than 500 in 41 states. Co-Presidents ...
5 real estate investors indicted for bid rigging at foreclosure auctions

5 real estate investors indicted for bid rigging at foreclosure auctions

A federal grand jury in San Francisco has returned a nine-count indictment against five real estate investors for their role in bid rigging and fraud at real estate foreclosure auctions in the east bay area of California, according to a release from the FBI. The indictment charges northern California real ...
one in seven home appraisals have been inflated by 20 percent or more according to new study

One in seven home appraisals have been inflated, according to new research

One in seven home appraisals done between 2011 and 2014 were inflated by 20% or more, according to data collected by Digital Risk Analytics, a subsidiary of Digital Risk, LLC, and provided to the Wall Street Journal. The mortgage-analysis and consulting firm, based in Maitland, Fla., was hired by some ...
Home price gains continue to slow in latest Case-Shiller Home Price report

Home prices continue slow down through August

Data through August 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices continue to show a deceleration in home price gains. The 10-City Composite gained 5.5% year-over-year and the 20-City 5.6%, both down from the 6.7% reported for July. The National Index gained 5.1% annually ...
Emerging trends in real estate survey lists top 5 cities for real estate investors for 2015 with Texas cities topping the list

Texas wins in the top markets to watch in 2015 for real estate investors

A new survey, looking at the top locations for real estate investment prospects in 2015, has Texas cities topping the list, according to 1,000 leading real estate experts, investors, fund managers, developers, property companies, lenders, brokers, advisers, and consultants who participated in the study. According to  Emerging Trends in Real ...
Tight credit supply for borrowers will be fixed, Watt says

Tight credit supply for borrowers will be fixed, Watt says

Mel Watt, federal housing financing agency director, said in a speech Monday that Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac and lenders had reached an agreement in principle that could expand access to mortgages for many Americans which is good news for real estate investors. Meanwhile mortgage data and analytics firm RiskSpan  ...