Published in the Anchorage Daily News on 4.4.24 By Connie Yoshimura On April 1, 2024 there were 133 residential properties for sale (excluding condos and mobile homes) and that number is not a joke and no one is laughing, least of all the spring buyers looking for a home in Anchorage.  Whether  it’s a newly arrived oil company executive; a first time home buyer hoping to jump onto the first rung of the housing ladder; a retired Alaskan wanting to  downsize to a ranch home or a young family needing that fourth bedroom and a backyard, It’s no joke that Anchorage’s lack of housing ..read more

Published in Anchorage Daily News on 2.29.24 By Connie Yoshimura   Every day we drive past restaurants, office buildings, big box stores and then one day the sign changes and we wonder what happened. Most likely that’s the work of a commercial real estate licensee that may have taken months if not a couple of years to change. Aside from the commercial for sale or lease signs with their name, you’re not likely to find commercial licensees on You Tube videos or offering their properties on Facebook. They’re not an underground group of warriors but a select group of real estate licensees ..read more

    Published in the Anchorage Daily New on 2.15.2024   Because waiting until June to sell your home is a myth. With our record snow fall of over 100 inches, it just takes a little more work to get the home ready but it may be well worth it. Housing  inventory is always the lowest during these dark winter months and so there is less competition. Today, there are only 133 single family homes on the market today in the Municipality of Anchorage.  Sellers who wait until the snow is gone and the crocus bloom have more competition not only with resale but new construction ..read more

  Published in Anchorage Daily New on 1.18.2024 By Connie Yoshimura On January 15, 2024 there were only 180 single family homes for sale. With the average original list price in the last six months of $506,172, there were only 6 homes between $500 and $549,000 for sale.  Only three of the six were built after l992 when the 5 star energy rated was adopted.  Only one home was built in 2023 and the next youngest was built in 2016. The condo market isn’t fairing much better for buyers.  Condos have had a 25% increase in value since 2020. December’s closed average value of $284 ..read more

  Published in Anchorage Daily News 01.03.2024 By Connie Yoshimura A Housing Ladder consists of all housing units of various sizes, types and price points in a market. It is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant, one that is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have access from the outside of the building or thorough a common hall.  For example, I live in a duplex and my ten ..read more

Published in Anchorage Daily News 12.06.23   Since most people are busy with the holidays, December is a good time to shop for a new home. Builders are anxious to get rid of their spec inventory. Nationally, 59% of builders are offering up to a 2% buy down of a mortgage rate or closing costs. Locally, a handful of new construction homes have advertised buy downs, but buyers and their realtors shouldn’t be afraid to ask even if it is not being marketed, particularly if it is a completed home. Other than that, the market remains stable and appreciating. Single family homes appreciated i ..read more

  Published in Anchorage Daily News on 11.29.2023 I have often wondered why first-time home buyers don’t consider purchasing a duplex as their first home. You can live in one unit and 75% of the gross rental income from the other unit can be used for qualifying income. Not only is that a good opportunity for help with your mortgage but once you have lived in the duplex for a year which is the required time of occupancy for an owner-occupied loan, you can rent the second unit and then ‘move up’ to a single-family home. That’s the exact opposite what most first-time home buyers consider. T ..read more

Published in Anchorage Daily News on 11.15.2023 On November 13, 2023, there were only 83 single-family homes for sale in Anchorage between $400,000-$600,000 which is considered the ‘missing middle’ in our local housing market.  That number in itself is shocking for a population of 291,000.  But even more shocking is that of the 83 homes, 35 or 41% were over forty-three years old. And only 25 of the 83 were less than twenty years old. In total, just over 52% of our housing stock was built in the l970’s and l980’s. So, HOW Old Is Too OLD?  A recent  real estate column in the ..read more

  Published in the Anchorage Daily News on October 18, 2023   Anchorage with its 39% of the state’s 735,556 population faces a pivotal turning point because, without rapid housing changes to its building and zoning codes and residential property tax relief,  Anchorage will lose its dominant place in Alaska’s history to the Mat-Su and the Kenai Boroughs, the two fastest areas of growth, according to the Dept. of Labor.  A former Anchorage mayor once told me that a city is identified by its downtown commercial development because tourists don’t see subdivisions. I also once ..read more

Published in Anchorage Daily News on 10.24.2023   In 1970 the mortgage interest rate was 7.5%. In l984, it was 18%. In l990, it hovered at 10%. In 2022, it began a downward trend and in 2015, it was around 4.5%. Covid hit and rates dropped to less than 3% if you were lucky enough to purchase on a particular day. Today’s rate is 7% plus, according to an online public chart, Freddie Mac, government sponsored mortgage investor. Now, we need to forget that historic COVID rate. We are living with many of the residual effects of covid and the worse thing we can do is look backward instead of ..read more