Here at Bedico Creek Preserve, we are about information for our builders, our buyers, our homeowners, our partners, and our vendors. If you are looking for a dependable source of information about real estate in Southeast Louisiana, specifically the Greater New Orleans area, please use our blog as much and as often as possible to read informative and timely real estate information. We promise you, you won’t be disappointed!

July Saw a 2% Increase in Private Residential Construction Spending

/in

Covered patio that looks out onto the spacious fenced-in backyard. This patio is complete with a ceiling fan and custom lighting.According to the National Association of Home Builders analysis of Census Construction Spending, private residential construction was up 2% in July. The total private residential construction spending came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $546.6 billion.

The housing market is booming and there is a steady growth of single-family and multifamily construction. The single-family and multifamily starts in July rose as well. Single-family construction spending rose 3.1% to a $268 billion pace while multifamily construction spending rose 4.9% to an $85.5 billion annual pace. A catalyst for this increase was the record low mortgage rates.

NAHB’s construction spending index illustrates the solid growth in single-family construction and home improvement from the second half of 2019 to February 2020, before the COVID-19 hit the U.S. economy.

 

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Home Construction Up in Small Metro Suburbs

/in

While the novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc in current times, the housing industry has stayed steady and growing even stronger in Q2 2020. The National Association of Home Building Geography Index (HGBI) reports a suburban shift for residential construction in the second quarter.

The HGBI data shows that the only region showing a gain for single-family homes in the second quarter was small metro suburbs. This shift in residential construction could be a result of homebuyers’ fears from COVID-19.

Large metro areas are at a higher risk from the health crisis COVID-19 has caused. It is harder to social distance in crowded cities and prospective home buyers want less densely populated areas. According to the HGBI, 55% of the U.S. population live in what are considered large metro areas.

The large metro areas make up a small area of the country at about 8.2% of all land in the U.S. Low-density areas make up just under 92% of a U.S. land. In fact, 45% of the U.S. population live in low-density areas.

The map shown shows the growth in the lower density areas. This growth represents half of all single-family construction on a four-quarter moving-average year-over-year basis.

HGBI defines small metro suburbs as remote counties of areas with less than one million in population. Small towns were up 9.3%, small core areas were up 7.5% and exurbs were up 5.6% on a four-quarter moving average basis.

There was also an increase in the market share for single-family construction in low-density areas. These areas which include small metro core and suburbs, small towns and rural markets saw a 48.4% increase. This marked the biggest increase in the history of the HBGI surveyed quarters.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

June Sees Year-over-Year Gains in Single-Family Permits

/in

This is a custom built five bedroom, four and a half bathroom has many custom features both inside and out.According to the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, the first six months of the year saw a total of 433,484 single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD). This showed a 3.8 increase from June 2019 which totaled to 417,453.

As seen in the graph, across the four regions the Southeast saw a 6.5 increase while the Northeast saw a 1.7 decrease in single-family permits. In multi-family permits, the South saw a 3.1 increase while the Northeast saw a 14.7% decrease.

The data gathered from June 2019 (YTD) and June 2020 (YTD) reported 34 states with an increase in single-family homes and 16 states (included the District of Columbia) with a decline.
South Dakota saw the highest growth rate at 36.7% from 1,178 to 1,610 while the District of Columbia saw a huge decline by 50% from 108 to 54.

The top ten metro areas with the highest number of single-family permits issued YTD. Houston, TX came in at the top with 20,614, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX had 19,744, Phoenix, AR reported 13,561, Atlanta, GA topped at 11,828, Austin, TX had 9,526, Charlotte, NC rose to 8,289, Tampa, FL had 7,770, Orlando, FL came in at 6,728, Nashville, TN reported 6,658 and Arlington, VA was last at 6,458.

Homebuyers are still flooding the market. Many desire to move away from the cities and urban areas because of the coronavirus. The suburbs and low populated areas are now the hotspots around the country.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Mortgage Trends We’ll Face in the Second Half of 2020

/in

Many predictions were made after collecting data for the housing and mortgage trends of 2020.  This all changed when COVID-19 switched things up.  Here are several mortgage trends that buyers and sellers will face in the second half of 2020.

Mortgage rates will stabilize.  This is one area that predictions were changed due to COVID-19. Originally Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors predicted that mortgage rates would slightly move from the end of 2019 to the end of 2020.

Well that didn’t pan out the way they predicted. With the onset of COVID-19 mortgage rates plunged in February. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage went down almost a half a percentage point to 3.37% APR in a little over a week.  For the next four months the mortgage rates continued to drop and in June of 2020 the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.35% APR compared to the same time a year before at 4.24%.

Now Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors predict yet another fall of around one-tenth of a percentage from the second quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2020. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage could drop to as low as 3% APR by year end.

It will be hard to find homes to buy.  Today, inventory is low and buyers are facing bidding wars.  According to predictions, the home inventory shortage will continue through this year and beyond.  There were approximately 20% less inventory in May of 2020 than in May of 2019.  COVID-19 had a lot to do with this as sellers took their homes off the market for fear of potential homebuyers walking through their homes.  This still remains true with the high number of COVID-19 cases throughout the country.

Lack of affordability will hold back home sales. In May, home prices rose faster than incomes making it hard for buyers to afford a home.  Home resales dropped over 30% year-over-year in May and the median price rose 2.3%.

“New home construction needs to robustly ramp up in order to meet rising housing demand. Otherwise, home prices will rise too fast and hinder first-time buyers, even at a time of record-low mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR.

iBuyers will keep growing. This is a popular trend and will stay that way because of the conveniences and lack of traffic through your home.  iBuyer is a company that allows sellers to ask for an offer on their home.  If you agree to the price, iBuyer will purchase your home as-is. The company then fixes it up and re-sales the house.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many iBuyer companies such as Opendoor, Zillow Offers, Offerpad and RedfinNow stopped making offers. As the country continues to rephase into opening back up, the companies began to make offers and purchase homes.

The refinance boom will continue.  With the low mortgage rates, many decided to refinance their homes.  In February and March of this year the mortgage industry was bombarded with more refinance applications than lenders could even handle. Refinancing is still going strong but will slowly fade away.

Housing insecurity will remain.  COVID-19 destroyed the U.S. economy and made the unemployment rate rise from 3.5% to 14.7% in April. With the rise in cases many are scared of a second phase of shut-downs. Luckily the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act was passed and offers mortgage relief to homeowners who have suffered income loss due to the pandemic.  According to Black Knight, a real estate date provider, June 30 saw 4.5 million homeowners in mortgage forbearance plans. Homeowners will be allowed to request mortgage forbearance through the end of 2020.

3D home tours will still rise. When the country was put on mandatory lockdown orders, sellers begin to hesitate on showing their homes.  The social distancing disrupted open houses and scared many homeowners from allowing visitors into their homes.  Technology became the source of open houses.  Potential buyers could view the homes as if they were walking through the actual house. 3D home tours allow potential homebuyers to visit many more homes virtually and quickly narrow down their list of potential properties. Even with the COVID-19 scramble on housing predictions, the future of the housing market is positive for the remaining year.  This is a great time to purchase a new home.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Construction Workers Are in Demand

/in

The home building industry is booming in the midst of the low mortgage rates and low home inventory. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics‘ Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data shows that there has been a pick up since May in the construction sector hiring.

The JOLTS program produces data on job openings, hires and separations. These data serve as demand-side indicators of labor shortages at the national level.

The data released showed that in May the construction sector hired 679,000 workers and 498,000 in June. In June 2019 there were only 423,000 construction workers hired. The construction hiring rate in May increased by 9.7% and 6.9% in June. May was the strongest rate of hiring that has ever been reported by JOLTS.

The open jobs rate was at 3.3% in June with a total of 245,000 open construction sector jobs. This time a year ago the open jobs rate count was 325,000. The open job rate was reduced by the pace of rehiring plus the weakness in the non-residential sector.

Even though home building and remodeling are on a positive path right now in the economy, nonresidential construction is still feeling the effects of the pandemic.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Selling a Home for the Second Time: Here Are 5 Tips to Follow

/in

Being a successful Realtor, you have repeat customers throughout your career. A buyer from the past might come back and want to list their home for sale or a listing from the past might come back on the market to resell. There are many tactics and things to consider when listing a home that was already part of your inventory in the past. These five tips will help with those listings that come back on the market.

The first tip to remember is that you know the great features the property has to offer. This pre-existing knowledge of the home gives you confidence in reselling. This is something you have over the current owners and potential buyers. With this knowledge comes the downside of knowing the negative aspects. This can be a positive as it gives you the opportunity to anticipate any hang-ups that might occur.

Second, get familiar with anything that has changed in the home. More than likely the owners that purchased the home from you have made some changes. There could be some little changes or a full-blown renovation. A positive in your corner would be if the owners invested in changing things that you wanted to be changed the last time you listed the home on the market. A good Realtor will still want to make sure the home is market-ready and suggest any “impactful tweaks” that could spruce it up before it goes back on the market.

Thirdly, bring in a fresh set of eyes when getting the home ready to list. If you are selling a home you have sold in the past, you might want to take a different approach when showing the listing again. More than likely the styles have changed since the first time you sold the home. A different designer or decorator will come in with a fresh set of eyes and ideas.

The fourth tip is to start with new marketing materials. Unless the home comes back on the market six months or less from when you sold it more than likely there are changes that have been made to the home. Take the time to create new marketing collateral. A fresh new start might just be the ticket to sell the home.

The last tip is to always think twice. This applies to those “problem properties” that you have listed in the past over and over again. There are some great questions to ask when considering relisting these unique properties. Do they receive frequent offers on the home? Or do they report frustrations with the floor plan? Is it just the price? Compare the reasons it has come back on the market and analyze if it is better just to pass on the listing.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.