Sellers Feel The Pain Of Price Drops

By CHUCK GREEN Next time you run into someone in the local Starbucks who happens to have their home on the market, be a sport and plop an extra scone into their bag, huh? A little butter and jam, too? After all, sellers probably aren’t riding the wave of a sugar high induced by whatever they will pocket in their real estate transactions as experts say the price of an average home in the United States is decreasing. The cities expected to be the most heavily hit include: San Francisco: -10.36% Seattle: -9.55% San Diego: -7.24% Los Angeles: -5.61% Denver: -5.60% Dallas: -4.34% Portland: -4.25% Las Vegas: -3.69% What is contributing to the drop in housing prices? B. George Ratiu,…

Hitting The Market During The Holidays? What Sellers And Buyers Need To Know

By KIMBERLEY HAAS The housing market traditionally cools during the holiday season as people focus on family and friends but industry leaders say it is a good time for potential sellers and buyers to weigh their options. After mortgage rates recently surged above 7%, real estate activity and consumer sentiment took a nosedive. Home delistings hit a record high in November as sellers and buyers pulled out of the market, according to journalists Lily Katz and Ben Walzer at Redfin. Markets where home prices skyrocketed during the pandemic are now cooling the fastest. In Sacramento, Calif., an average of 3.6% of active listings were delisted per week during the 12 weeks ending on November 27, up 1.6 percentage points from one year earlier.…

Rent Prices Are Easing In Most U.S. Metros As Multifamily Construction Stays Strong

Rent prices are easing in most American cities thanks to a boost in available units. Sixty-eight of the country’s largest metros saw month-over-month rent declines in October, according to researchers at Florida Atlantic University and two other schools. The average rental rate was $2,040, down 0.9% from September. Springfield, MA, Austin, TX, Seattle, and New York were among the cities where rents posted declines.  “It seems that an increase in supply helped relieve the pricing pressure on rental units around the country – and that’s exactly what had to happen,” said Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., an economist in FAU’s College of Business.  He noted that delivery of units under construction, as well as increasing unit density and conversions of short-term…

Millennials Dominate In America’s Biggest Metros

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,…

Lawsuit Claims Zillow Purposely Mislead Investors With Public Statements

Zillow and some of its top executives are being sued for allegedly making misleading claims in advance of the closure of its iBuying arm, Zillow Offers. Zillow shareholder Dibikar Barua filed a class-action lawsuit against the company in federal court in Seattle alleging that Zillow failed to tell shareholders it was struggling to accurately predict home prices. “Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects,” the suit reads. It claims that Zillow did not disclose the “significant unpredictability in forecasting home prices” the company was struggling to overcome or its inventory backlog, both of which would have signaled to investors that…