Axioms are truths. If there is ever one complete truth it is that not everyone sees the future equally, nor do they consistently perceive the present. Proof in the statement takes only a glance at the latest forecast for residential interest rates from Fannie Mae and the MBA (F&M). As shown in the table, not …Read more
The combined cost of housing and transportation expenses accounted for one-half (49.8 percent) of all monthly household expenditures in 2019 (prior to the pandemic) according to the Annual Consumer Expenditures Study by the U.S. Census Bureau. Included in both of those are energy costs. On a simple average across the 50 states, monthly energy costs …Read more
Want to know why we still have high unemployment despite a record number of job openings? Just read to the end. Jobs Are Everything Jobs are everything to the economy and the ultimate source of effective demand (purchasing power) for residential and commercial real estate. Period. Good news is that the U.S. had a record …Read more
The U.S. added 850,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in June 2021 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Most jobs added monthly since August 2020 when 1.583 million jobs were brought back from the 22.4 million jobs lost in March and April 2020 at the onset of the pandemic The 880,000 job expectation from …Read more
The same degrees from differing colleges and universities, just as all students from a given school with the same degree, are not equal. Every college, university, course, person, employer and locale are different. As usual the TINSTAANREM Axiom is invoked — There Is No Such Thing As A National Real Estate Market or economy. Ditto …Read more
Yesterday this Blog discussed state employment metrics for May 2021. See https://blog.stewart.com/stewart/2021/06/28/may-2021-state-job-metrics-in-a-recovering-pandemic-landscape/ Today the same metrics are presented but at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) level. While the U.S. has 392 MSAs, data are available for only 380 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) based on seasonally adjusted data which allows comparison of …Read more
In March and April of 2020 the U.S. lost the most and greatest percentage of jobs in history due to the pandemic. The record federal government stimulus, however, muted the immediate economic impact and even resulted in the highest savings rate in the history of the country. Recovery is underway, but like the job losses …Read more
Homebuilders face a trifecta of impediments – not winnings – with new home construction being hindered by shortages of workers, materials (including appliances, fixtures, HVAC and even hot-water tanks) and developed residential building lots. As a result, May new home sales slid for the second month in a row sequentially from the prior month using …Read more
While the country is heading towards the best U.S. GDP growth rate in decades, the same is not true across all states. As usual the TINSTAANREM Axiom is invoked — There Is No Such Thing As A National Real Estate Market or economy. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the value of all the goods and …Read more
While housing markets turned hot after the first four months of the pandemic last year, commercial real estate still struggles. Even prior to the pandemic there were growing trends of e-commerce migrations out from the higher-tax, greater density markets and growing work-from-anywhere jobs negatively impacting commercial property. The pandemic magnified and accelerated these trends. Detailed …Read more