Number of Homes for Sale Dwindling Again with Little Relief in Sight

Supply Shortage to Persist Well into H1 2022, as Contract Volume Is Significantly Outpacing Net New Listings November Median Closed Price of All Single-Family Listings Saw 14.6% Increase Year-Over-Year Homes Under $200K Remain Elusive While Net New Listing Activity Above $600K Has Risen More than 40% Annually U.S. housing supply is dwindling once again as homes continue to fly off the market at record prices, bucking the trend that typically sees market activity slow in the winter months. In November, we witnessed a nearly 15% decrease in net new property listings on the market compared to last year, coupled with a growing number of homes going into contract at elevated prices. For homebuyers across the country, we expect the shortage of homes for sale to extend well into 2022, setting us up for additional price growth in the spring – albeit likely at a lower rate than the record rise we saw throughout 2021. 1. For the month of November, 199,259 net new listings were placed on the market which represents a 14.9% decrease versus November 2020. Over the last 52 weeks there have been 3,214,852 net new listings placed on the market. This represents a 6.1% increase versus the 3,029,983 net new listings over the year prior. Broken out by price bins, the $0-$200k bin has accounted for 17.4% of net new listings over the last 52 weeks, the $200k-$400k bin at 40.8% of net new listings, the $400k-$600k bin at 21.4% of net new listings, the $600k-$1m bin at 13.7% of net new listings, and the $1m+ bin at 6.7% of net new listings. 2. The total volume of net new listings over the last 52 weeks for $0-$200k and $200k-$400k price bins is down 19.1% and 2.8% compared to the year prior. The total volume of net new listings for $400k-$600k,  $600k-$1m and $1m+ price bins are up 29.2%, 44.1% and 42.4%, over the same period. For the month of November net new listing volume for the $0-$200k and $200k-$400k and $1m+ price bins are down 34.3%, 18.3% and 10.2%, respectively, compared to November 2020, while the $400k-$600k and $600k-$1m price bins are up 6.6% and 5.6% over the same period. 3. For the month of November, there were 305,063 listings that went under contract nationwide which is a 5.3% increase versus November 2020. Over the last 52 weeks, 3,447,686 properties have gone into contract. This represents a 1.5% increase versus the 3,397,339 properties that went into contract over the year prior. Broken out by price bins, the $0-$200k bin has accounted for 17.9% of total contract volume over the last 52 weeks, the $200k-$400k bin at 40.9% of total contract volume, the $400k-$600k bin at 20.9% of total contract volume, the $600k-$1m bin at 13.4% of total contract volume, and the $1m+ bin at 6.9% of total contract volume. 4. The total volume of listings going into contract over the last 52 weeks for the $0-$200k and $200k-$400k price bins are down 23.0% and 7.0% compared to the year prior. The total volume of listings going into contract for the $400k-$600k, $600k-$1m, and $1m+ price bins are up 22.6%, 40.3%, and 46.8%, over the same period. For the month of November, contract volume for the $0-$200k and $200k-$400k price bins are down 7.7% and 2.1%, respectively, compared to November 2020, while the $400k-$600k, $600k-$1m, and $1m+ price bins are up 23.4%, 27.3%, and 10.8%, over the same period. 5. For the week ending December 3rd 2021, the median price of all single-family listings in the US was $379,339 and the median closed price was $387,988. On a year-over-year basis, the median price of all single-family listings is up 8.1% and the median price of closed listings is up 14.6%. Month-over-month, the median price of single-family listings is down 1.5% and the median price of closed listings is up 2.0%.

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Word of the Day: Risible

[RIZ-ə-bəl] Part of speech: Adjective Origin: Latin, 16th century 1. Causing laughter 2. Pertaining to laughter About Risible Risible is a funny word. It’s an adjective used to describe anything related to laughing. It could be something funny that causes laughter; it could be a person who is prone to laughing; it could describe something related to laughter. It’s all fun and games. Did you Know? The word risible comes from the Latin word “risus,” which is a conjugation of the verb “ridēre,” which means to laugh. But it’s often used to describe something laughable or ridiculous, not necessarily funny ha-ha. Examples of Risible in a sentence “I was in a grumpy mood, but the risible real estate guru video turned it around.” “The investor was laughing for so long that the risible muscles in his cheeks started to ache. “

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VERO Announces New Prequalification Offering, Saving Time And Preventing Fraud

VERO Vett Grants Transparency, Time Savings, and Fraud Elimination VERO, the modern leasing platform for owners and renters, announced the addition of VERO Vett, a new prequalification offering, to its leasing platform. Providing verifications in seconds instead of days, VERO Vett is the industry’s most cutting edge solution, designed specifically to prevent fraud across identity, income, and employment – all before processing a leasing application. As a result, property managers save time and money, ridding themselves from the burdens of costly evictions and unqualified applications, while renters gain full transparency and understanding of their application via an encrypted workflow. VERO Vett Benefits: Pre-qualify applicants in seconds via an encrypted workflow Prevent fraud across identity, income, and employment Standardize criteria across applicants Provide transparency and predictability to renters With VERO Vett, property managers are granted complete control over setting objective applicant criteria, standardizing an otherwise burdensome and complicated process. Upon prequalification, VERO Vett autofills the application form with the data provided by the renter, allowing applicants to complete submission in mere minutes. With this model, VERO Vett prevents fraud before it even begins, granting property managers the confidence to approve quality applicants without the risk of fraud–all while granting renters complete visibility into their application strength. “While the priorities of property managers and renters are often at odds, adding VERO Vett’s prequalification capability empowers both sides,” said Lou Baugier, CEO and co-founder of VERO. “While applicant fraud has been on the rise, using our unique technology we’re able to not only speed up the process drastically, but also eliminate fraud before it happens–creating a superior, secure experience for both property managers and prospective renters.” VERO consolidates a broken leasing process in one simple platform, making lease management easier and more affordable for property managers while providing transparency and cost savings for renters. On average, it takes less than 17 minutes to apply and sign a lease with VERO–compared to the industry average of seven days. By combining each separate step of the leasing process into one centralized solution, VERO grants owners benefits including streamlined workflow, mitigated risk, and increased net asset value (NAV), while passing time savings and transparency onto their renters. ABOUT VEROVERO is the modern leasing infrastructure for renters and owners. Designed to streamline and automate all operations, VERO consolidates a broken leasing process in one simple platform, making lease management easier and more affordable for property managers while providing transparency and cost savings for renters. Learn more about VERO: sayvero.com

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Word of the day: MILQUETOAST

Noun/Adjective: MILK-tohst Definitions in regard to a person: timid, meek, or unassertive (noun) Do we really want someone who is a milquetoast to be in charge of our sales department or someone who will aggressively go after new business with every fiber of their being? lacking in character or vigor (adjective) While explaining why he did not meet the sales quota, the sales manager offered a most milquetoast excuse. ORIGINS: Why is it milquetoast, and not milk toast? Caspar Milquetoast was a comic strip character created in 1924 by the American cartoonist Harold T. Webster. The strip, called “The Timid Soul,” ran every Sunday in the New York Herald Tribune for many years. Webster, who claimed that Milquetoast was a self-portrait, summed up the character as “the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick.” The earliest examples for Milquetoast used as a generic synonym for “timid person” date from the mid-1930s.

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Toorak Capital Partners Appoints Two Industry Veterans to Board of Directors

Kevin Chavers and Francis Byrne Bring Decades of Mortgage Industry Experience to the Company as it Continues Strong Growth and Plans for Next Securitization Toorak Capital Partners, Inc. (“Toorak”), a leading capital provider to real estate lenders, announced the appointment of Kevin Chavers and Francis Byrne to the company’s Board of Directors. “I am thrilled to welcome such experienced mortgage finance executives to the Toorak team as we continue our remarkable growth and look ahead to 2022,” said Toorak CEO John Beacham. “Kevin and Francis bring decades of industry experience, and I am certain Toorak will significantly benefit from their leadership and guidance.” Mr. Chavers previously spent ten years as Managing Director at BlackRock, serving on the Global Fixed Income Securitized Asset Investment Team, where he assisted in the development and launch of its residential mortgage whole loan investing platform. He was also a Co Leader of the BlackRock Impact Opportunity fund, and member of both the Global Public Policy Group and the Financial Markets Advisory Group. Prior to his tenure at BlackRock, Mr. Chavers was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in the Securitized Products Group. He also formerly served as the President of Ginnie Mae in the Clinton Administration. He currently serves as Chairman of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and on the boards of directors of Enterprise Community Partners, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the University of Virginia Foundation, and the Penn Institute for Urban Research. He is a former Partnership for New York City David Rockefeller Fellow. Mr. Chavers received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and received his B.A. in City Planning from the University of Virginia School of Architecture. “I am excited to join the team at Toorak during such a tremendous growth period for the company,” said Mr. Chavers. “I look forward to advising the company as it helps to solve the current housing shortage through strategic deployment of capital.” Mr. Byrne is currently a Managing Partner at Fifth Light Capital, LLC, where he provides advisory services to early stage and financial services companies. Prior to his tenure at Fifth Light Capital, he served as Managing Director and Head of Securitization at UBS Securities, LLC, where he led the effort to rebuild the ABS, RMBS and CLO businesses in the U.S. Prior to UBS, Mr. Byrne spent nine years at Deutsche Bank, ultimately rising to Co-Head of the Global Securitized Products Group. He also worked for Credit Suisse for 13 years in various banking, management, and risk management capacities. Mr. Byrne received his MBA from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and his B.S. in Finance from Fordham University. “I look forward to joining the team at Toorak Capital Partners,” said Mr. Byrne. “The team has built an excellent reputation among investors and each of its securitizations has been oversubscribed. I look forward to building upon this legacy and contributing to Toorak’s continued success.” With capital commitments from entities managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm, Toorak Capital Partners has revolutionized the way business purpose residential real estate lenders access capital. The firm was the first to link small-balance commercial and residential originators with institutional capital and has perfected this approach in the single-family residential bridge and 30-year single family rental lending space. To learn more about Toorak Capital Partners’ correspondent lending platform, please contact the firm at toorakcapital@toorakcapital.com or 212-393-4100. About Toorak Capital Partners Toorak Capital Partners is an integrated correspondent lending platform based in Summit, NJ. Toorak acquires small balance business purpose loans backed by residential, multifamily, and mixed-use properties throughout the U.S. and the U.K. Toorak acquires loans directly from lenders that originate high credit quality loans. Toorak’s principals have a deep understanding of mortgage credit in the residential and commercial space with backgrounds in real estate lending, capital markets, securitization, asset-liability management, asset management and credit. Toorak-funded projects have renovated, stabilized or provided rental housing for more than 20,000 families to date – an average of more than 500 families every month. Further information is available at www.toorakcapital.com.

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TurboTenant Releases Free Rent Reporting Feature Under New CEO

TurboTenant’s Rent Reporting enables renters to report on-time rent payments to TransUnion free of charge in order to build their credit history and strengthen their credit scores. TurboTenant, the industry-leading online platform for landlords and renters, released its Rent Reporting feature under its new CEO. “We believe it’s a tenant’s right to build their credit with each on-time rent payment, which is why we offer Rent Reporting for free,” said Seamus Nally, TurboTenant’s new CEO. “Our goal is not only to help renters strengthen their credit scores but to also help heal the traditionally contentious landlord-renter relationship.” TurboTenant’s Rent Reporting service lets renters report their on-time online rent payments, collected through TurboTenant’s rent payment system, to TransUnion. Rent Reporting is free – unlike many existing rent reporting platforms. It also incentivizes on-time rent payments – a challenge many landlords have faced during the pandemic. “Rent is one of the largest payments that millions of Americans make each month, and this valuable payment history can serve as a prime support to improve a consumer’s financial standing,” said Maitri Johnson, Vice President of TransUnion’s Tenant and Employment Screening Business. “We are thrilled to partner with TurboTenant, and empower more landlords to offer this service to their residents and expand financial inclusion efforts.” The release is one of the first launched during Nally’s tenure as CEO. After merging his company, OTL Ventures, with TurboTenant in 2020, Nally accelerated product development during the pandemic as the chief operations officer of TurboTenant, while simultaneously doubling the company’s size. Nally succeeds Sarnen Steinbarth, who founded TurboTenant in 2015. “I’m honored to lead the TurboTenant Team in achieving our mission of empowering landlords to create welcoming rental experiences,” Nally said. “The rental process should be an easy and positive experience for everyone – this is why we help our landlords offer the best possible rental experience through our services. Rent Reporting is just the start.” Renters and landlords can find more information and set up Rent Reporting here. About TurboTenantMore than 400,000 independent landlords across the U.S. turn to TurboTenant for free, all-in-one online property management solutions. Features offered by TurboTenant include online rental applications, tenant screening, property marketing, and online rent payments. Sign up for free at www.turbotenant.com.

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