Print FriendlyA worker making federal minimum wage of $7.25 for 40 hours a week is unable to afford a two-bedroom rental anywhere in the country, according to a recent study. In its 2018 edition of its “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing,” the National Low Income Housing Coalition looked at the wages necessary to afford…
Print FriendlyAccording to ATTOM Data Solutions Q2 2018 U.S. Home Affordability Report, U.S. home prices in the first quarter were at the least affordable level since Q3 2008. The report calculates an affordability index based on percentage of income needed to buy a median-priced home relative to historic averages, with an index above 100 indicating median…
Print FriendlyFor the first time since the Great Recession, there are signs of a broad shift in America’s housing market. Homeownership rates are inching up, while the number of new rental households has declined slightly. “We are more confident that there is a turnaround in homeownership,” said Chris Herbert, managing director of the Joint Center for…
Print FriendlyJob growth in and near downtown areas is seeing peak levels, with major employers like McDonald’s in Chicago and GE in Boston relocating their headquarters from the suburbs to the city cores to have direct access to young intellectual capital and to attract tech-savvy Millennial talent. Such changes are forging a stronger bond between jobs and residential and…
Print FriendlyRising interest rates and the economy are the top two current issues to watch in real estate, according to the Counselors of Real Estate’s Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate 2018-2019, a list of the biggest threats to the housing market. For the first time, CRE broke its annual list down into current and longer-term issues…
Print FriendlyWhether they’re hoping to get ahold of an older abode or a freshly built one, today’s dearth of for-sale stock isn’t doing would-be buyers any favors. Every ounce of available inventory makes a difference, including non-owner-occupied properties (i.e., vacation, investment, and second homes). To assess their impact on inventory, LendingTree recently identified the U.S. cities with the highest share of…
Print FriendlyPHILADELPHIA ― The rodent infestation had grown so severe in the home Yazmin Vazquez shared with her nephew that when she left a plate of roast beef on the stove to cool, rats pounced and devoured the entire dish. The home didn’t have heat and sewage leaked into the basement. By March 2016, the city Department…
Print FriendlyWhat is the motivation behind long distance moves among renters? A new study from ApartmentList takes a look at why some renters chase jobs and other choose locations when moving to new areas. They surveyed over 20k Apartment List users about their decision-making process and then divided the respondents into two categories; Job-first movers and Location-first movers. …
Print FriendlyRent prices have risen over the past year across the U.S., but there are some bright spots: Several cities experienced modest price drops thanks to new building projects. Although rental rates went up nationwide, the increase was actually fairly modest at about 1.5 percent, according to a new report from rental site Apartment List. That’s down…
Print FriendlyTen years removed from the financial crisis, the single-family rental (SFR) market has seen explosive growth. With mortgages at the center of the crisis, the resulting spike in foreclosure rates and housing prices challenged homeownership as the status quo. The crash brought an outpouring of demand into the rental markets. From 2005 to 2015, more…