Upright Introduces DSCR Loans For Real Estate Investors

Upright has introduced debt service coverage ratio rental loans available to real estate investors. DSCR is a measure of the cash flow available to pay back debts. A DSCR loan is a non-QM loan available to investors that allows lenders to judge qualifications without verifying personal income by focusing on rental income. “Many customers at first come to us for our fix and flip loans. Often their exit strategy was to turn them into long-term rental properties, and we have previously had to refer them elsewhere. There was a piece of the puzzle missing,” Upright’s VP of Revenue, Brendan Bennett, said in a statement. “By introducing DSCR Rental Loans, we are better able to serve the needs of more customers…

Investors Flee Market As Borrowing Costs Rise, Home Prices Cool

Investors are backing away from the home purchase market as price appreciation continues to cool. Investor home purchases declined 45.8% YOY in Q4 2022, according to a new Redfin analysis of 40 U.S. metros. This is a record drop, besting 2008’s 45.1% dip during the subprime mortgage crisis. Quarter-over-quarter, investment purchases fell 27%, the largest decline excluding the beginning of the pandemic. Pandemic boomtowns in particular saw massive dips, with investor purchases in Las Vegas and Phoenix dropping by more than 60%. High borrowing costs and declining home values have “made real estate investing less attractive,” Redfin said. Home prices have risen less than 1% YOY, down significantly from 15% growth last year. Investors who bought homes at a premium…

Price Growth Cooled Again In September But Remains Strong In Southeastern States

Home price growth cooled again in September, increasing only 11.4%, according to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index. This is the fifth month of lower YOY growth. Two-thirds of American metros saw at least some month-over-month declines as well, contributing to a 0.5% national decrease from August. Southeastern states continued to see higher price appreciation than other areas. Florida topped the list for the eighth straight month with 23% growth, followed by South Carolina (+17.6%) and Tennessee (+17.4%). Washington, D.C. ranked last with only 1.8% appreciation. “The rapid increase in prices during the COVID-19 pandemic caused many U.S. housing markets to reach completely unaffordable levels for potential local homebuyers,” said Selma Hepp, interim Lead of the Office of the Chief Economist at…

Home Flip Profits Declined In 2021 Despite Surge In Numbers

Home flipping profits fell across the country in 2021 despite a surge in the number of houses flipped, according to ATTOM Data Solution’s 2021 U.S. Home Flipping Report. The number of single-family homes and condos flipped in 2021 was 323,465, up from 257,091 in 2020 (+26%). This is the largest number of flips since nearly 334,000 homes were flipped by investors in 2006. In Q4 2021, there were 96,773 homes flipped, a rate of 6.8%. But flips accounted for only 5.5% of all home sales last year, falling in 53% of the markets analyzed by ATTOM. They are down from 5.5% in 2020 and 6.1% in 2019. The Northeast and West saw the biggest declines in number of homes flipped.…

Second Home Demand Cools After Explosive January

Demand for vacation homes has cooled down after skyrocketing to near-record levels in January, Redfin reported. February saw second home demand reach its lowest level since May 2020 as mortgage rates continued climbing, only 35% above pre-pandemic levels. Rates declined for a few weeks due to uncertainty surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but started inching up again last week, reaching 3.85%. While demand is still significantly elevated from two years ago, it’s nothing compared to January’s 87% increase. February was also the first month where primary residence demand beat out vacation home demand since the pandemic began, though only by 1%. “Rising mortgage rates, combined with rising home prices, are hitting the second-home market much harder than the primary-home market,”…

All-Cash Offers Most Effective Strategy For Winning Bidding Wars

Homebuyers who offered all cash won more bidding wars in 2021, making it the most effective strategy to beat out other buyers, according to a new Redfin report. Waiving the financing contingency and conducting a pre-inspection also increased potential buyers’ chances when facing off with other bidders, making them 31% and 25% more likely to win, respectively. Escalation clauses and waiving inspection contingencies are frequently seen strategies, but because they’re so common they’re also ineffective. They also do not benefit one buyer over their competition. Redfin also suggests offering more than asking price and waiving the appraisal contingency to set buyers apart from the crowd, as many can’t afford to pay all cash. Buyers planning to offer over asking may…

Despite Changes, Office Spaces Are Not A Thing Of The Past

By DOUG OHLEMEIER Despite many employees working from home and companies adopting hybrid work models, investors are still attracted to the land of cubicles. While office suites aren’t as packed with workers as before the pandemic, the commercial market remains strong. “There is investor interest in office properties,” said Stephen Newbold, National Director in the U.S. office of research for Colliers International, a Toronto, Ontario-based global real estate services and investment management company. “We are at a stage where we can fairly confidently say that we’re not going back to those (2020) levels. It may fluctuate a little, but my overarching view is we are stabilizing on vacancies and space on the market.” Observers aren’t sure how the new work…

Investors Bought 80,000 Homes In Q4 2021

Real estate investors bought 80,293 properties in Q4 2021, a record 18.4% of homes sold. Redfin reported that investor purchases were up from 43.9% YOY, though they fell 9.1% from Q3’s peak, likely due to stock shortages that impacted regular homebuyers and investors alike. Seasonality also contributed to the quarter-to-quarter drop, as the housing market typically slows in the winter. More than three-quarters of homes bought by investors (75.3%) were all-cash purchases. Atlanta saw the most investor activity in Q4 at 32.7% of market share, followed by Charlotte (32.1%), Jacksonville (29.8%), Las Vegas (29.2%), and Phoenix (28.4%). These are all popular destinations for moving Americans and have seen high demand during the Great Migration. “While record-high home prices are problematic…

SFRhub.com Partnering With Altisource

SFRhub.com has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Altisource, with the goal of creating an online marketplace for SFR and BFR properties. The collaboration is intended to give SFRhub.com, a real estate investment platform specializing in single-family residential (SFR) and Build-For-Rent (BFR) investment portfolios, a “one-stop” platform for investors to buy and sell homes. Altisource, a data and residential real estate services provider, will supply information and services to the platform. “SFRhub.com’s collaboration with Altisource will provide SFR/BFR investors with the first-to-market, ‘one-stop’ solution to expertly buy and sell homes in one of CRE’s most fast-paced and hottest asset investment segments,” said Jeff Cline, executive director and principal of SFRhub.com.  “We believe this multi-platform collaboration is truly one of the…

CoreLogic: Double-Digit Rent Growth In September

Strong demand and the labor market are fueling single-family rent price increases which remain at record highs. September data from CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index shows rents increased 10.2% year-over-year (YOY), compared to a 2.6% YOY increase in September 2020. Rents increased across all four tiers of rental prices used by CoreLogic. Lower-priced rentals (less than 75% of the regional median) saw an increase of 8.3% YOY, while rents in the lower-middle price range (75%-100% of the regional median) rose 9.3% YOY, both more than doubling their growth from the same time in 2020. Rents for higher-priced properties broke 10%, with higher-middle priced (100%-125%) rents climbing 10.5%, compared to 2.4% in September 2020. Higher-priced rentals (125% or more of the regional…