By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Craving some sunshine? You are not alone as the migration to the Sun Belt continues past the pandemic.
Data from U-Haul and North American Van Lines shows that the Carolinas, Florida, and Texas were among the top inbound states for migration last year. That trend is expected to continue.
And as the state of North Carolina sees an influx of new residents, the coastal city of Wilmington has been attracting accolades. It was listed as the second best place to live in North Carolina by Forbes Advisor last fall, coming in after Raleigh, the state’s capital.
In January, the median listing home price in Wilmington was $435,700, trending up 18.1% year-over-year. The median home sold price was…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Programs that support ownership of multifamily properties are estimated to make up almost 30% of homebuyer assistance offerings and that may present unique opportunities in markets strapped for inventory.
According to the Down Payment Resource’s Homeownership Program Index, 33 new programs supporting multifamily homebuyers and builders were added in Q4 2022.
Multifamily programs now make up 29.3% of all available assistance offerings, a 5.5% increase over Q3 2022, according to the index.
Sean Moss, executive vice president of product and operations at Down Payment Resource, told The Mortgage Note that even first-time homebuyers can qualify for down payment assistance and become both an owner and a landlord at the same time.
Moss said the buyer receiving the…
Americans agree that military families deal with more financial stress than the average family. Ahead of Veterans Day, WalletHub looked at the best places veterans can live to reduce that burden. The Midwest and South offer the best places for veterans to live well, according to WalletHub’s 2022 Best & Worst Places for Veterans to Live report. The report analyzed the 100 largest U.S. cities for key metrics related to veterans’ quality of life, including the share of military skill-related jobs, housing affordability, and proximity to VA health facilities. Raleigh, NC, took the top spot for the best place for veterans to live, followed by Austin, TX, and Laredo, TX. Madison, WI, and Tampa, FL, rounded out the top five.…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS As prices for rental housing continue to climb in many parts of the country, bidding wars are becoming more common. According to a report released last week by Joel Berner and Danielle Hale for Realtor.com, rent has reached another high in the company’s data history, averaging $1,827 in the 50 largest US metropolitan areas. Rental increases are most pronounced in Sun Belt metros, Berner and Hale wrote. That is because as more people have the opportunity to work remotely they are choosing warmer climates to live in. Three Florida metros are particularly affected. They include Miami, where rent was up 51.6% from April 2021; Orlando, 32.9%; and Tampa, 27.8%. Overall median rent in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale,…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Low-income and minority buyers will continue to be crowded out of the housing market in 2022, according to the director of research at the AEI Housing Center. The American Enterprise Institute is located in Washington, D.C., and during a webinar on Monday, Director of Research Tobias Peter said entry-level homebuyers are being replaced by borrowers with higher incomes in many markets. “When we tally up the entry-level share of all home sales, we’re finding that the entry-level, as of December of 2021, accounted for 52.7%, which is, of course, much down from before the pandemic. In December of 2019, it was at 59.9%, and when we started tracking this back in 2012, it was at 71%,” Peter…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Analysts at Zillow have made their predictions for the hottest housing markets of 2022, and we are bringing you a look at the most expensive homes in the top five cities listed. On Tuesday, the Seattle-based company predicted Tampa, Florida, will be the hottest housing market of 2022. NFL Quarterback Tom Brady’s new city is followed by Jacksonville, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Antonio, Texas; and Charlotte, North Carolina. “Homebuyers are attracted to markets in the Sun Belt that offer relative affordability, fast-growing economies, and weather that allows them to enjoy the outdoors year-round,” Zillow economist Alexandra Lee said in a statement. Lee also predicts the seller’s market seen in 2021 will continue and buyers should be ready…
By SCOTT KIMBLER Prices of single-family homes and rental costs continue to rise in the United States. But officials in China have been lowering interest rates and over the last few months, the Asian county has seen a drop in property price tags as well. Here in the U.S., many companies—including Bloomberg—are reacting by predicting a possible rally in 2022. Especially in the bond market. Bond prices have an inverse relationship with mortgage interest rates. As bond prices go up, mortgage interest rates go down and vice versa, according to an article on Rocket Mortgage’s website. “These sorts of events cause uncertainty,” said Elizabeth Rose of Mortgage 300 in Dallas, Texas. “Their (China) money is going to seek a better return, so we’ll potentially have more buying in the…
