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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 

Down payment averages drop to 14 percent on new home purchases RealtyTrac report says

Down payment average for home purchases drops to 14.8 percent, a three-year low

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
The average down payment for single family homes, condos and townhomes purchased in the first quarter was 14.8 percent of the purchase price, down from 15.2 percent in the previous quarter and down from 15.5 percent a year ago to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2012, according ...
Rental growth where you least expect it, single-family homes despite the hot apartment construction market

Rental growth where you least expect it: single-family homes

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
By David Guarino Senior Research Analyst John Burns Real Estate Consulting Take a drive through the urban portion of any major city and you will likely see cranes and construction crews dotting the landscape, building what appears to be an endless supply of apartment units. Your eyes are not deceiving ...
Home buyers purchasing below market value in 60 percent of markets according to a new study from RealtyTrac says Daren Blomquist, vp

Home buyers still purchasing below market value in 60 percent of markets, new study says

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
Home buyers in about 60 percent of the markets surveyed in a new report by RealtyTrac.com are buying at below market value, while sellers are getting above-market prices in about 27 percent of the markets, the report shows. “Nationwide in April single family homes and condos sold for almost exactly ...
Bank repossessions (REOs) and foreclosure filings hit an 18-month high according to a new report from Realty Trac

Bank repossessions (REOs) hit 18-month high across the U.S. as foreclosures put new inventory on the market

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
Bank repossessions (REOs) and foreclosure filings were reported on 125,875 properties in April, up 9 percent from a year ago representing an 18-month high, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. The U.S. foreclosure rate in April was one in every 1,049 housing units with a foreclosure filing. “The REO ...
Mortgage loans originated on single-family homes were up 17 percent year over year says RealtyTrac's Daren Blomquist

Mortgage loans originated on single-family homes up 17 percent year over year, new study says

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
Mortgage loans originated on single-family homes and condos were up 17 percent year over year according to a new report from RealtyTrac.com, led by California, Florida and Massachusetts. The majority of the loans were for refinancing and new mortgages for purchases were up only about 1 percent during the same year ...
Strong returns for home flippers in the first quarter yielded an average gross profit of $72,000

Strong returns for homes flipped in the first quarter yield average gross profit of $72,000

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
A new report shows that 17,309 single family homes were flipped — sold as part of an arms-length sale for the second time within a 12-month period — in the first quarter of this year, 4.0 percent of all single family home sales during the quarter, according to RealtyTrac. And, more ...
Foreclosures jump in March driven by bank repossessions

Foreclosures jump in March driven by bank repossessions

| Editorial Staff | Article | Market & Trends
Foreclosures jumped in March recording the first year-over-year increase since 2010 as bank repossessions pushed up the numbers, according to a new study from RealtyTrac. The increase in March was driven primarily by a jump in bank repossessions (REOs), which at 36,152 were up 49 percent from the previous month ...
The best markets for rental rate returns for investors are highlighted in a new report

The best markets for rental rate returns for investors are highlighted in a new report

| Editorial Staff | Article | Market & Trends
A new report ranks the markets with the best, and worst, potential returns on residential rental properties that real estate investors can expect, according to RealtyTrac. The study also shows the most affordable, and least affordable markets, from a renter's perspective. Too, the residential rental property analysis report from RealtyTrac for ...
Home price appreciation slows year over year in 65 percent of metro areas

Home price appreciation slows year over year in 65 percent of metro areas

| Editorial Staff | Article | Market & Trends
Annual home price appreciation in February slowed, compared to a year ago, in 60 of the 92 metros of 500,000 or more population analyzed in a new report from RealtyTrac. “While still significant at 33 percent, the average discount buyers are realizing on distressed homes has been shrinking over the ...
Rise in home prices led by Denver, Dallas and Miami new report says

Rise in home prices led by Denver, Dallas and Miami new report says

| Editorial Staff | Article | Market & Trends
Home prices continued their rise across the country over the last 12 months, however, monthly data reveal slowing increases and seasonal weakness, according to the latest release of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index report for January. The index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded a 4.5% annual gain in ...
Pending home sales jumped in February says Lawrence Yun of the National Association of Realtors

Pending home sales jump in February led by the Midwest and West

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
Pending home sales in February increased to their highest level since June 2013 as sizeable gains in the Midwest and West offset smaller declines in the Northeast and South, according to a release from the National Association of Realtors. The number of contracts to buy, called the pending home sales ...
Texas cities top new list of best markets for real estate investment

Texas cities top new list of best markets for real estate investment

| Editorial Staff | Article | Market & Trends
Texas cities top a new list for best markets for real estate investment, according to a new release from Local Market Monitor and HomeVestors. "The Top 10 markets for real estate investment all have a common thread: a fast growing economy, which means more jobs and more renters," Ingo Winzer, ...
Climbing housing prices have renters feeling the squeeze

Climbing housing costs have renters feeling the squeeze in many parts of the country

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
The gap between rental costs and household income is widening to unsustainable levels in many parts of the country, and the situation could worsen unless new home construction meaningfully rises, according to a release of new research by the National Association of Realtors. NAR reviewed data on income growth, housing ...
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article | Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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

| Editorial Staff | Article, Market & Trends
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 ...