August 2015

Found 4 blog entries for August 2015.

Keeping Current Matters, 8/19/15

We are almost back to ‘pre-housing crash’ home values. The inventories of distressed properties (foreclosures & short sales) are shrinking dramatically. The economy is improving. The job numbers are headed in the right direction. The big question that still remains: Have Americans regained their confidence in real estate as a worthy investment? According to a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, Americans have put real estate back into first place as the best of all investments.

Here are the results of the survey:

http://www.keepingcurrentmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Best-Investment-KCM.jpg

Bottom Line

Homeownership never lost its place as a key component of the American Dream for a host of financial and non-financial reasons. It is good to see that it has

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Keeping Current Matters, 8/18/15

Today, many real estate conversations center on housing prices and where they may be headed. That is why we like the Home Price Expectation Survey. Every quarter, Pulsenomics surveys a nationwide panel of over one hundred economists, real estate experts and investment & market strategists about where prices are headed over the next five years. They then average the projections of all 100+ experts into a single number.

The results of their latest survey

  • Home values will appreciate by 4.1% in 2015.
  • The cumulative appreciation will be 18.1% by 2019.
  • That means the average annual appreciation will be 3.4% over the next 5 years.
  • Even the experts making up the most bearish quartile of the survey still are
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Keeping Current Matters, 8/13/15

People often ask whether or not now is a good time to buy a home. No one ever asks when a good time to rent is. However, we want to make certain that everyone understands that today is NOT a good time to rent. The Census Bureau just released their second quarter median rent numbers. Here is a graph showing rent increases from 1988 until today:

http://www.keepingcurrentmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Increase-in-rents.jpg

At the same time, a report by Axiometrics revealed:

“The national apartment market’s annual effective rent growth rate of 5.1% in June 2015 represented a 47-month high, and continued a streak of 5.0%-plus rent growth that is now the longest in at least six years, according to apartment market research. The effective rent growth in June 2014 was 3.7%, putting June 2015’s

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Mortgage Lending is NOT Out of Control

Posted: 12 Aug 2015, Keeping Current Matters

This year, both Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae have introduced new programs that only require a 3% down payment on a mortgage in order to purchase a home. Earlier this month, the Mortgage Bankers’ Association reported that adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) may be making a slow comeback as the share of ARMs increased to 7.4 percent of total mortgage applications. Some see this loosening of lending standards as a point of concern. We know that the ridiculously low lending standards of the early 2000’s were part of the reason a housing bubble formed and burst last decade. Some are worried that we are headed down the same road that caused that housing crisis. However,

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