Retail sales (including food services) dominate the U.S. economy typically making up 70 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP is essentially the value of all goods and services produced. Retail sales plunged 20.7 percent from February 2020 (baseline prior to the Coronavirus impact) to April 2020, but has since recovered to an all-time record …Read more
Imagine a Best Places to Live Survey that was based on the largest economic cohort of the population using the metrics and parameters that matter the most to the people deciding where they will reside? Livability.com’s 2020 Best Places to Live is exactly that and reflects the impact of the pandemic and changes to people’s …Read more
Talk to almost any homebuyer today and ask the top hurdles facing them, it is all but guaranteed that affordability hits at or near top of their list of challenges. A strong headwind for homebuyers in the past 12-months was the 11.4 percent jump in the median sales price of existing homes when comparing August …Read more
It’s an election year, so things are always different – correct? Housing sales will be down no matter what? Right? The high-end market always slows – right? Both are myths – but are they true? MythBusters was one of my favorite TV shows years ago, but analyzing these housing sales myths is not going to …Read more
Prior to the 2020 pandemic, a one-month job gain of more than 660,000 jobs had only ever happened once in the history of the United States. Following the recession and combined with the tax cuts under President Ronald, the U.S. added 1.118 million net new jobs in September 1983 on a seasonally adjusted basis according …Read more
Have been wanting to use the words Smoking Hot regarding real estate since the last downturn in 2008, and finally have a reason: August 2020 new home sales! New home sales came in at a blistering 1.011 million units in August on seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR), up a massive 43.2 percent from the prior …Read more
Jobs are everything to an economy. Period. Ordinarily when analyzing the monthly employment statistics, the focus is on growth from the prior month and in the past 12-months. That all changed in the months since the pandemic. Key metrics post-pandemic (up until now) included: the total percentage of jobs lost since February (the baseline prior …Read more
Jobs are everything to an economy. Period. They create effective demand for real estate – residential and commercial — enabling not just the need and want but also the ability to pay. The U.S. just posted the largest drop in jobs in history in April 2020, shedding 22.16 million workers –which in turn triggered a …Read more
Existing home sales rose to the best level seen since December 2006, coming in at 6.00 million closings on a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) according the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Sales on a SAAR were up 10.5 percent compared to one year ago and up 2.4 percent sequentially vs July. Total monthly raw …Read more
Record-low interest rates continue to drive home sales and refinance lending volumes – perhaps two of the brightest spots of the U.S. economy today. Following is a summary of the September 2020 forecasts from Fannie Mae and the MBA for interest rates, existing and new-home sales and residential lending. Freddie Mac forecasts these also, but …Read more