by rtdosen | Dec 18, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Fed Sees Housing Improvement & Raises Rates By Ryan Dosen The Federal Reserve announced earlier this week that it is raising its key short-term interest rate for the first time in over 10 years. Amid the financial crisis of the late 2000s, the Fed dropped its key rate to zero. The rate has stayed at zero since 2008 as we have waited for our economy to return to normalcy. Now that the Great Recession is past, unemployment is down, and the economy has improved, we will be seeing “gradual” interest rate increases. The rate increases are a sign that the Fed believes in the realness of the recovery; but the fact that the increases will be “gradual” confirms the delicate nature of our improving economy. The Federal Funds Rate The Fed sets the federal funds rate, which is the interest rate at which a depository institution lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight. The target federal funds rate has been set at 0 to ¼ percent for many years, but the target rate is now being bumped up to ¼ to ½ percent. As the cost of borrowing money between banks increases, the interest rates that consumers have to pay banks for loans generally follows suit. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen says that “only gradual increases” in the federal funds rate are expected. According to Bloomberg Business, the vote for rate hikes was unanimous and Fed policy makers are implying four ¼ point increases in the target range next year. The Fed’s View on the Economy Yellen says that “the economic recovery has...
by rtdosen | Dec 18, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Foreclosure Starts Hit Lowest Level in Over 10 Years By Ryan Dosen ‘Tis the season for giving. Unless you’re a bank. If you’re a bank, you may give out some loans, but in that case you’re not truly giving anything away. And you may actually wind up being a Grinch and taking back some homes. The good news is that while banks aren’t exactly in the giving spirit, they are initiating foreclosures far less than they have been wont to do. RealtyTrac, a “leading source for comprehensive housing data,” just released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2015 and the numbers are encouraging. While the actual number of homes being repossessed is up, the number of foreclosure starts has fallen to its lowest level in over 10 years. The steadily shrinking pace of foreclosure starts is yet another encouraging sign for the improving health of our real estate market. RealtyTrac’s Foreclosure Market Report According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions) were reported on 104,111 U.S. properties in November. This number represents a 10 percent month-over-month decrease and more than a 7 percent year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity. RealtyTrac says that “the 10 percent monthly decrease in overall foreclosure activity was caused largely by a 15 percent monthly drop in foreclosure starts, with 41,208 properties starting the foreclosure process for the first time in November.” This 15 percent drop left foreclosure starts at their lowest level since May 2005. RealtyTrac’s report also tells us that national foreclosure starts have now decreased year-over-year for 5 consecutive months, with monthly decreases in foreclosure starts occurring 7...
by rtdosen | Dec 8, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Multifamily Leading Surge in New Home Construction By Ryan Dosen New home sales are spiking and builders are investing more and more money to supply an increasing demand for housing. This trend continues not only nationally, but also locally. Local builders, forced to scale back operations after the real estate collapse of the late 2000s, are seeing market conditions improving and inventories remaining low. They are now buying up land, ramping up operations, and looking forward to a very promising near term for new home construction. New Home Sales Rise 10.7 Percent The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently reported that the sales of newly built, single-family homes jumped 10.7 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 495,000 units. Builders seem to have seen this coming and they continue to buy more land and build more homes. Tom Woods, chairman of the NAHB and a home builder from Blue Springs, MO, says that “our builders are reporting continued optimism in the housing market, and are adding inventory in anticipation of future business.” And for new homes, year-over-year growth is even more impressive. David Crowe, NAHB’s Chief Economist, revealed that “sales this year are running 15.7 percent ahead of 2014.” Crowe also says that “with a firming job market, affordable home prices, and rising pent-up demand, today’s report is another indicator that the housing market continues to move on a modest upward trajectory.” Multifamily Construction Leading the Surge The NAHB also reports that total private residential construction spending for October increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $399 billion. A month-over-month breakdown of...
by rtdosen | Dec 8, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Average Home Seller Sees Much to be Thankful For By Ryan Dosen Meet Joe. Joe is your average home buyer. Joe looks a little different today than he did in recent years, but not a lot has changed. Joe is a little less likely to be first time homebuyer and he may even be looking to buy a multi-generational home to take care of parents or grown children. Joe has to deal with lower inventories in his home search, making him spend more money for a home and more time looking for a home. He is also dealing with tight lending requirements that will make buying even more difficult in the unlikely event that he is a first-timer. We just learned a lot about Joe because the National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) recently released its 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. There’s nothing too alarming about NAR’s findings, but it is interesting and potentially helpful to take a closer look at the anatomy of today’s home buyer. Today’s Home Buyer NAR reports that average home buyer Joe is 44 years old and most likely married (67 percent chance). He has a median household income of $86,100 and he is buying a home for around $220,000. Joe’s new home was built about 14 years ago, with approximately 1,900 square feet of livable space, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. Joe’s new home is also just a median distance of 14 miles from his last residence. Joe spent about 10 weeks searching for homes and wound up actually seeing about 10 homes before making a buying decision. He most likely began...
by rtdosen | Dec 8, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Anatomy of a Home Buyer By Ryan Dosen Meet Joe. Joe is your average home buyer. Joe looks a little different today than he did in recent years, but not a lot has changed. Joe is a little less likely to be first time homebuyer and he may even be looking to buy a multi-generational home to take care of parents or grown children. Joe has to deal with lower inventories in his home search, making him spend more money for a home and more time looking for a home. He is also dealing with tight lending requirements that will make buying even more difficult in the unlikely event that he is a first-timer. We just learned a lot about Joe because the National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) recently released its 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. There’s nothing too alarming about NAR’s findings, but it is interesting and potentially helpful to take a closer look at the anatomy of today’s home buyer. Today’s Home Buyer NAR reports that average home buyer Joe is 44 years old and most likely married (67 percent chance). He has a median household income of $86,100 and he is buying a home for around $220,000. Joe’s new home was built about 14 years ago, with approximately 1,900 square feet of livable space, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. Joe’s new home is also just a median distance of 14 miles from his last residence. Joe spent about 10 weeks searching for homes and wound up actually seeing about 10 homes before making a buying decision. He most likely began his search for a...
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