WRE NEWS Two new data reports have reaffirmed the continued acceleration of home prices. The national required household income to purchase the median priced home rose to $116,000 in April, after accounting for the cost of tax and insurance, according to new data from Realtor.com. This is $5,900 higher from one year earlier. Six major metros required a household income of over $200,000, with four of the six based in California: San Jose (household income $361,000), Los Angeles (household income $298,000), San Diego (household income $259,000) and San Francisco (household income $256,000). The ..read more

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE NEWS Bathroom Remodels Were Cited As Most Common Project In 2024 Based on the National Association of Home Builders newly released Remodelers Survey, results revealed that bathroom and kitchen remodels remain the most popular projects in 2024. “Whatever type of home improvement project consumers are looking for, NAHB Remodelers remain committed to professionalism and helping homeowners create the home of their dreams,” said NAHB Remodelers Chair Mike Pressgrove. Bathroom remodels were cited as the most common job by 65% of remodelers, followed by kitchen remodels (61 ..read more

HousingWire As with all data, the devil is in the details More than 556,000 single-family homes were available for sale nationwide as of last Friday, according to the latest data from HousingWire sister company Altos Research. That puts the national inventory up 31.9% year-over-year, extending a 24-week streak of year-over-year increases. So are agents and brokers flush with home listings? Likely not, as listings are still a fraction of their pre-Covid levels despite the strong year-over-year growth. Brokers and agents, mortgage officers and other housing professionals ..read more

Inman News Fed policymakers will slow the pace of ‘quantitative tightening’ — an unwinding of the central bank’s $7T balance sheet — to $40B a month, less than half the pace envisioned 2 years ago Mortgage rates looked poised to drop last Wednesday after Federal Reserve policymakers said they’ll slow the pace of “quantitative tightening” — an unwinding of the central bank’s $7 trillion balance sheet that’s helped keep rates elevated — to less than half the pace envisioned two years ago. At its latest meeting, the Fed left the short-term federal funds rates unchanged at its current target of 5 ..read more

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE NEWS According to the latest U.S. Rental Report from Realtor.com, residential rents in March 2024 continued to fall for the eighth month in a row, with a year-over-year decrease of 0.3% across various unit sizes. Despite this trend, the median rent stood at $1,722, just $36 below its peak in August 2022, yet $313 higher than in March 2019, before the pandemic began, demonstrating the rental market’s ongoing strength. The top 10 U.S. markets experiencing the sharpest annual declines in rent prices were: Austin-Round Rock, Texas (-4.70%); Memphis, Tenn.-Ms.-Ark. (-4.40 ..read more

HousingWire In addition to a higher number of new listings, more new contracts were started this week than at any time in 2023 By Mike Simonsen The weekly volume of new listings is now higher than at anytime last year. It’s still April, so there could be as many as eight more weeks of seller growth in the spring housing market. And seller growth is happening pretty much everywhere across the country, with Florida and Texas leading the way.  There’s two ways to interpret these trends. The bearish take is that there are many more sellers than buyers and invento ..read more

HousingWire Price appreciation continues to defy expectations in the face of high mortgage rates and declining affordability Home prices were near an all-time high in February. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index posted a 6.4% annual gain in February, up from a 6% gain in January, according to the newest report released Tuesday. It was the largest annualized increase recorded since November 2022. On an annual basis, the 10-city composite index grew by 8%, up from 7.4% the previous month. The 20-city composite posted a y ..read more

KCM The number of homes for sale is playing a big role in today’s housing market. And, if you’re considering whether or not to list your house, today’s limited supply is one of the biggest advantages you have right now. That’s because your house stands out more when the inventory is low, especially if it’s priced right. But the supply of homes for sale is growing. According to the latest data from Realtor.com, new listings (homeowners who just put their house up for sale) are trending up (see graph below):   This graph shows more homeowners are putting ..read more

HousingWire Gaining traction with back-to-back weeks of growth By Logan Mohtashami Active weekly housing inventory growth slowed slightly last week, but it’s still running at a healthier clip than in 2023. I have a simple model with mortgage rates being above 7.25%: weekly inventory data should grow between 11,000-17,000 per week. Last year, we never hit that target. We have now seen it for two weeks as inventory grew by 13,247. Weekly housing inventory data We’ve now had back-to-back weeks of healthy housing inventory growth and spring 2024 is much healthier than ..read more

KCM Thinking about selling your house? If you are, you might be weighing factors like today’s mortgage rates and your own changing needs to figure out your next move. Here’s something else to consider. According to the latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) from Fannie Mae, the percent of respondents who say it’s a good time to sell is on the rise (see graph below): Why Are Sellers Feeling so Optimistic? One reason why is because right now is traditionally the best time of year to sell a house. A recent article from Bankra ..read more