By CHUCK GREEN
In upcoming decades, U.S. homeowners in areas along coastlines could be up the proverbial creek.
Sea level rise, along with changing storm patterns, could result in flooding that severely damages homes in many coastal areas. Especially vulnerable, according to estimates, are the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Carolinas, and the Washington, DC, area.
In 2018, the Union of Concerned Scientists hoisted warning flags when it released an interactive map that showed the estimated number of homes at risk for chronic flooding in the coming decades due to sea level rise.
That year, the group reported that burgeoning sea level rise – fueled mainly by climate change – was projected to exacerbate tidal flooding in the country. Within…
The number of underwater homes in the U.S. dropped in Q4 2023 as home prices continued soaring, adding to the property wealth of American homeowners.
Equity rose by approximately $24,000 YOY for the average borrower, according to new data from CoreLogic.
A home is underwater if it has negative equity – that is, if it’s worth less than the homeowners owe.
Quarter-over-quarter, the number of homes with negative equity slipped by 1.1%, accounting for just 1.8% of all mortgaged properties, the lowest number ever recorded by CoreLogic.
Annually, underwater mortgages were down by 15%.
“Rising home prices continue to fuel growing home equity, which, at $298,000 per average borrower remained near historic highs at the end of 2023,” said Dr.…
As home prices continue to rise across the country, New England is a hot spot for year-over-year gains.
CoreLogic’s national Home Price Index increased for the 139th consecutive month in August, up 3.7% YOY, the biggest gain since February 2023. Prices are now 42% higher than in March of 2020, when the pandemic began.
Massachusetts’ top-dollar homes reflect a growing interest in the Northeast. New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island sported the largest YOY price gains in August.
Strong jobs markets and relative affordability make the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic attractive to cost-sensitive buyers, pulling them away from pricey areas that were hot in the last few years.
Not every market saw an appreciation jump. In eight states, prices fell…
By CHUCK GREEN Home sweet… multifamily home construction? If, well, the spare bedroom fits. And that it seems to do in light of a new report from Construction Coverage showing a spike in construction of multifamily homes in the U.S. With a jump in multifamily housing projects, home building in the U.S. catapulted to a nine-month high last December, according to Reuters. There was a 2.4% hike to a rate of 737,000 units among multifamily homes under construction. “As long as supply chains remain stressed, builders will struggle to complete projects, slowing sales and likely limiting growth in the supply of new homes,” said Ben Ayers, Senior Economist at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio. Earlier in the year, addressing the International Builders’ Show in…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the spring selling season begins, people in the mortgage and real estate industries are speculating on whether 2022 will be a year of growth or the start of the end for a red-hot market that has favored sellers and forced up the price of housing in many parts of the country. Numbers from the start of the year look promising for growth. On Tuesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. A 19.2% annual gain was reported in January, up from 18.9% in December. The 10-City Composite annual increase was 17.5%, up from 17.1% in December. The 20-City Composite posted a 19.1% year-over-year gain, up from 18.6% in the previous…
Despite challenging conditions for first-time homebuyers, Millennials are actively engaging in the housing market, especially in the nation’s largest metros, according to a new analysis from LendingTree. The analysis found that Millennials– people aged 25 to 40 in 2021– make up a majority of homebuyers in most of the US’s largest metros, especially Denver, Seattle, and Boston. Of mortgages offered in Denver, 63.3% were offered to Millennials. In Seattle, 61.35% were offered to Millennials, and in Boston, 61.08%. Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa have the smallest share of buyers in this age group, at 46.54% across all three markets. San Francisco, New York, and San Jose have the greatest portion of older Millennials, with an average age of 33.51%, while Indianapolis,…
Home prices rose year-over-year (YOY) by 18.5% across the nation in December 2021, and by 1.3% from November, CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index reported. Home price growth averaged 15% for 2021, which saw one of the hottest housing markets in decades. Q1 2021 started off with 10% appreciation but continued to grow, reaching 18% in Q4. By comparison, price appreciation for the full year of 2020 averaged only 6%. The states with the highest increases YOY were Arizona (28.4%), Florida (27.1%), and Utah (25.2%). The cities with the biggest gains were Phoenix (30.2%), Las Vegas (24.4%), and San Diego (22.4%). CoreLogic predicts that home prices will remain flat this month and rise by only 3.5% by next December. Comparing annual…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS A report released this month suggests that despite rising home prices it is more affordable to own a median-priced house than to rent a three-bedroom property in a majority of the United States. ATTOM’s 2022 Rental Affordability Report used fair-market rent data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and sales deed data in 1,154 counties to find that home ownership will be more affordable in a majority of the country again in 2022. Todd Teta, Chief Product Officer at ATTOM, said home ownership still remains the more affordable option for average workers because it takes up a smaller portion of their pay when the math is…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS More than a quarter of the states in the country have experienced a rental price increase of 20% or more in 2021 and a senior research analyst says people moving out of cities and into more rural communities are partially to blame. Nick VinZant works for QuoteWizard by LendingTree. He co-authored an article that was published this month which shows that Florida had the highest percentage increase in the nation at 29%. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Florida is about $1,425. Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington all saw rents increase by more than 20% for one-bedroom apartments in 2021, according…
