RENTALS are UP, UP, UP !@%$%#$$

Apartments for Rent at Realtor.com
Rental demand, tight mortgage money, changing attudes about renting, demographic shifts --


-but mostly rental demand -- prompted Realtor.com to add apartments to its listings.

Full Story: http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20111103_apartments.htm

                         

HOME SALES......UP OR DOWN ???

BLOOMBERG.COM NEWS reported.........

Close to Bottom

“The market continues to bounce along the bottom, with conditions in some locations beginning to improve,” NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said today in a statement. “The stronger rebound in sales expectations for the next six months likewise marks a return to trend.”

The NAHB confidence survey asks builders to characterize current sales as “good,” “fair” or “poor” and to gauge prospective buyers’ traffic. It also asks participants to gauge the outlook for the next six months.

Builders in three of the four regions were less pessimistic this month. In the South, the gauge rose to 17, the highest since March, from 14 a month earlier. The measure also climbed in the West and Midwest.

By Bob Willis - Jul 18, 2011 7:19 AM PT

One quarter of 2011 was down & one quarter was up. Yes folks, we are finally getting through this HUGE real estate market mess. I call it...HREMM.

It's just like fishing the bottom. You drag along, bouncing up and down, hoping you don't snag your line & WHAM......it's on!

The challenge will then be; have we learned anything and will we handle things better the next time around?

My favorite part of this whole HREMM is how American & Entrepreneurial positive thinking has basically supported and reinvented the market. Massive foreclosures (Investors & Private Lenders handling it), high loan qualification parameters (Investors & Private lenders handling it).

It's a beautiful business picture!

Thanks to all PMA believers,

Larry Tutino, Blog Founder

AFFORDABLE RENTALS HARD TO FIND...

Affordable rentals hard to find

A record number of renters are spending more than half their income on housing, according to a report released Tuesday by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. One in four renters -- or about 10.1 million households -- spend half their paychecks on rent and utilities, the study found. Another 26.2% spent between 30% and 50% of their income on housing. This is due in large part to rising housing costs and weak income gains. The center defines "affordable" as less than 30% of household income. Though most renters are low-income, more middle-income renters are feeling the pinch, too.

One in five of those in middle-income quintile are paying between 30% and 50% of their pay in rent, up from 9% a decade ago. The middle-income quintile are those making between $42,000 and $62,900. The number of renters is also expanding as the housing crisis drove many people out of their homes and prevented others from securing mortgages to buy houses. An additional four million people were renting in 2010, compared to 2005, Belsky said. Making matters worse, the supply of affordable rental housing has been shrinking. Nearly 12% of low-cost market-rate rentals that existed in 1999 were demolished or lost from the housing stock by 2009. And there is little new multi-family buildings being built in the wake of the housing crisis.

Smart Real Estate News & Commentary by Chris McLaughlin April 27, 2011

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