July 2023 – Page 2

EQUITY IMPROVES FOR U.S HOMEOWNERS AS HOUSING MARKET BOOM SHOWS SIGNS OF REVIVAL

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Equity-Rich Portion of Mortgaged Homes Rises Back Up Amid Home-Price Rebound; Half of all Homeowners Paying Mortgages are Equity-Rich; Seriously Underwater Level of Mortgages Also Sees Improvement ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, released its second-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that 49 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the second quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values. The portion of mortgaged homes that were equity-rich in the second quarter of 2023 increased from 47 percent in the first quarter of 2023, to the highest point in at least four years. With home prices rebounding across the U.S., the report found that the level of equity-rich mortgage-payers went up from the first quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2023 in 45 of the nation’s 50 states. The gains followed two straight quarterly drop-offs caused by a temporary slowdown in the U.S. housing market that had threatened to end a decade-long run of price and equity growth. The second-quarter upturn marked another sign of how the market shift has helped homeowners, as home-seller profits also spiked. While equity-rich levels rose in the second quarter, the report also shows that less than 3 percent of mortgaged homes in the U.S., or one in 36, were considered seriously underwater in the second quarter of 2023. That meant they had a combined estimated balance of loans secured by the property of at least 25 percent more than the property’s estimated market value. Just 2.8 percent of mortgaged-homes were seriously underwater in the second quarter of this year, also the lowest point since at least 2019. The latest figure was down from 3 percent in the prior quarter and 2.9 in the second quarter of 2022. “The second-quarter market revival bestowed immediate benefits on homeowners around the nation in the form of better profits for sellers and rising equity for those staying put. Equity levels were high even during the recent downturn, and now they are going back up and better than ever,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “It is well worth nothing that the market remains in flux and the recent improvement could easily be temporary. Lots of changing forces are at work affecting whether boom times are really back, especially amid a recent increase in mortgage rates. But with the 2023 peak buying season still underway, it seems that homeowners can reasonably expect their household balance sheets to grow a bit more in the near future.” Equity for U.S. homeowners improved in the second quarter as prices for single-family homes and condos nationwide rose throughout most of the country, reversing a market slowdown that had run from the middle of last year to the early part of this year. Nationwide, the median home value shot up 10 percent in the second quarter to yet another all-time high of $350,000, after dropping 7 percent over the prior three quarters. The rebound came amid multiple factors that combined to put more financial resources in the hands of house hunters during a time of rising demand and tight housing inventory. Home mortgage rates were down by one-half to three-quarters of a point for a 30-year fixed loan during the second quarter, after more than doubling in 2022 to about 7 percent. At the same time, consumer price inflation dipped down under 4 percent, the stock market improved after a year of ups and downs, and unemployment remained less than 4 percent. That happened as the peak annual buying season revved up during a time when the supply of homes for sales around the U.S. remained historically low. With several months to go in the 2023 home-buying season, the potential for more gains remains in place. But that will depend heavily on whether key market drivers continue to improve or decline. Largest increases in equity-rich share of mortgages spread across Midwest The portion of mortgages that were equity-rich grew in most states around the U.S. from the first quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2023, commonly by up to four percentage points. The biggest gains came in the Midwest region, led by Wisconsin (portion of mortgages homes considered equity-rich rose from 41.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023 to 47.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023), Michigan (up from 42.5 percent to 47.7 percent), South Dakota (up from 41.4 percent to 46.4 percent), Ohio (up from 36.7 percent to 41.3 percent) and New Jersey (up from 38.9 percent to 43 percent). At the other end of the scale, the South and West regions had the only states where the equity-rich share of mortgaged homes decreased from the first quarter to the second quarter of this year. They were Nevada (down from 49 percent to 46.8 percent), Louisiana (down from 24.1 percent to 23 percent), Arizona (down from 56.4 percent to 55.3 percent), Florida (down from 61 percent to 60.4 percent) and Utah (down from 58.1 percent to 57.8 percent). Largest decreases in seriously underwater mortgages also in Midwest The portion of mortgaged homes considered seriously underwater dipped, and remained historically low, during the second quarter of 2023 in most of the nation. The rate declined in 37 states, with the biggest decreases clustered in the Midwest, a region that has some of the higher levels of seriously underwater mortgages. The improvements were led by Missouri (share of mortgaged homes that were seriously underwater down from 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2023 to 4.8 percent in the second quarter of 2023), Illinois (down from 6.4 percent to 5.1 percent), South Dakota (down from 4.8 percent to 4 percent), Kansas (down from 3.7 percent to 3 percent) and Ohio (down from 5 percent to 4.3 percent). States where the percentage of seriously underwater homes increased the most from the first to the second quarter of this year

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Active since 2020, Beacon Residential builds on Great Gulf’s existing build-to-rent portfolio, spanning seven U.S. markets and representing 16 communities and over 2,300 homes Great Gulf Group is pleased to announce the launch of the Beacon Residential brand, the company’s purpose-built, single-family-rental community division. The unveiling of the brand comes at an opportune time as the build-to-rent portfolio continues to experience tremendous success in the U.S., with a total of 16 communities, nine currently for lease and several more expected to launch this year. Since 2020, Great Gulf Group has been a catalyst in bringing an innovative approach to rental housing to the U.S. Sun Belt with quality construction and curated designs. In less than three years, the company, along with its LP investors, have already committed $260 million of their $400 million target to over 2,300 units across 16 projects. With communities in the metropolitan areas of Charleston, Orlando, Austin, Houston, Tampa, Dallas, and San Antonio, Beacon Residential’s portfolio satisfies an incredible demand for quality, well built homes for lease in both stand-alone and master-planned communities within rapidly growing submarkets. “The launch of Beacon Residential could not have come at a better time. While we’ve had an active portfolio in this asset class for over three years, we recognized the opportunity to formalize our activities with the launch of a dedicated brand. With demand driven by strong job growth, low taxes, high affordability, low unemployment, and the desirability for homes in warmer climates, we recognize the Sun Belt’s appeal to a new wave of renters who prioritize flexibility and an array of other turnkey options over homeownership,” says Kiel O’Sullivan, President, Beacon Residential. Beacon Residential is a subsidiary of Great Gulf Group, an international, award-winning, innovative real estate developer with 48 years of experience. The company has built more than 30,000 homes in Canada. Through its U.S. sister company, Ashton Woods Homes, the group also has delivered more than 70,000 homes across eight American states. Drawing on the expertise and innovation of these companies, Beacon Residential is well positioned to deliver exceptional value to its residents, while adding to the much-needed housing stock within the areas it serves. Beacon’s professionally managed communities offer a maintenance-free lifestyle, along with a wide array of amenities such as smart home technology, lawn care, pest control, and 24/7 emergency maintenance. Residents also enjoy access to community amenities including pools, dog parks, playgrounds, and more. “In the last couple of years, our communities have helped bring the benefits of apartment-style living to a single-family home setting, a market that has been underserved,” continues O’Sullivan. “The growing demand for new, quality purpose-built rental housing is driven by factors such as affordability, changing life stages, and the increasing trend of ‘renters by choice’. At Beacon, we believe the renter’s experience should be at the forefront when developing our build-to-rent communities.” For more information about Beacon Residential, please visit www.beaconresidentialcommunities.com About Great Gulf GroupEstablished in 1975, the Great Gulf Group includes Great Gulf, a premier real estate organization that develops and constructs low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise communities across North America; First Gulf, a commercial developer specializing in industrial, life sciences, data center, and mixed-use properties; Tucker HiRise, focusing on the construction of high-density, mixed-used projects; H+ME Technology, a precision-engineered panelization manufacturing facility; a new recreation and resort division responsible for Taboo and Lora Bay in Ontario, and Killington Mountain in Vermont; and Beacon Residential, a single-family build-to-rent division with a growing presence across the U.S. Sun Belt. Ashton Woods Homes, a sister company, was founded in 1989 by principals of the Great Gulf Group. Ashton Woods has delivered more than 70,000 homes across the U.S. Southeast and Southwest and is the largest privately held homebuilder in the United States, based on closings. Learn more at www.greatgulfgroup.com About Beacon ResidentialBeacon Residential, a subsidiary of Great Gulf Group, is a leading build-to-rent company specializing in single-family communities. With a focus on sustainable construction, award-winning design, and a customer-centric approach, Beacon Residential aims to redefine rental living across the U.S. Sun Belt. Learn more at www.beaconresidentialcommunities.com.

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Prices posted their biggest increase in over seven months, with more demand than supply as high mortgage rates deter sellers The typical U.S. home sold for $382,500 during the four weeks ending July 16, up 2.1% from a year earlier. That’s the biggest increase since December 2022 and the second straight price uptick after nearly five months of declines, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Prices are rising substantially in some metro areas, including Milwaukee, where the housing market remained relatively steady throughout the pandemic. But they’re declining in other parts of the country, with the biggest drops in places where prices soared during the pandemic, including Austin and Phoenix. High home prices and mortgage rates pushed the typical homebuyer’s monthly payment up to a record $2,656. Daily average mortgage rates are inching down thanks to cooling inflation, but housing payments are likely to remain elevated because even slightly lower rates may escalate competition for the few homes on the market and push up prices for the foreseeable future. Prices are rising because there’s more demand than supply. Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index—which measures early-stage demand by tracking requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents—is up 2% from a year ago. Pending home sales are down 15% year over year, but new listings are down 25%, with homeowners handcuffed by relatively low mortgage rates. The total number of homes for sale is down 16%, the biggest dip in a year and a half, and inventory also posted an unseasonal monthly decline. “Even though buyers are trepidatious about high mortgage rates, we’re seeing bidding wars in several pockets of the market because there are so few options and even fewer good options,” said Raleigh, NC Redfin Premier agent Jordan Hammond. “Condos, townhouses and new construction homes are selling quickly, partly because they don’t require much work and people can’t afford to fix up a home when they have such high monthly mortgage payments. After over a year of high rates, buyers are getting used to lowering their budgets, searching for smaller homes, and thinking outside the box to reduce their monthly payments, doing things like rate buydowns or large down payments.” Leading indicators of homebuying activity: Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas: Unless otherwise noted, this data covers the four-week period ending June 16. Redfin’s weekly housing market data goes back through 2015. For bullets that include metro-level breakdowns, Redfin analyzed the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center

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Profit Margins on Typical Sales Nationwide Increase Following Three Quarterly Declines; Investment Returns Rise as Median U.S. Home Price Jumps 10 Percent; Seller Profits Still Down Annually Following Earlier Drop-offs ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, released its second-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that profit margins on median-priced single-family home and condo sales in the United States increased to 47.7 percent in the second quarter – the first gain in a year. The improvement in typical profit margins, from 43.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023, came amid a rebound in the U.S. housing market that pushed the median nationwide home price up 10 percent quarterly to $350,000. Both the nationwide profit margin and median home price increased after three straight quarterly drop-offs that had begun to reverse a decade-long market boom. However, even as seller fortunes turned around in the second quarter, the typical investment return nationwide did remain below the recent high point of 53.2 percent, recorded a year earlier during the second quarter of 2022. “Just when it looked like the housing market was flattening out, prices spiked again, which pushed seller profits back up to nearly their highest level in the past decade,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “Stable mortgage rates, an ongoing tight supply of homes for sale and the usual Springtime surge in buyer demand appeared to have combined to halt the downturn we started seeing a year ago. It’s way too early to predict another long-term price run-up, especially since buying a home is a financial stretch for so many households around the country. But the second-quarter numbers clearly show the market has more steam left in it, and sellers are reaping the benefits.” Gross profits also shot up from the first to the second quarter of 2023. They rose 17 percent on the typical single-family home and condo sale across the country, to $113,000, although they were still down 5 percent annually. The about-face in profits and prices around the U.S. during the second quarter reflected a housing market in flux. After a decade of almost continual increases, home prices dipped across most of the country in the middle of 2022 and continued declining through the first quarter of 2023. The national median price dropped 7 percent during that time as rising home-mortgage rates, high consumer price inflation and a faltering stock market cut into what potential buyers could afford. Prices and profits went back up in the second quarter during the start of the annual buying season, helped along by several forces. They included the nation’s limited supply of homes for sale, mortgage rates that stabilized at around 6.5 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, investment market gains and an easing of inflation. As the 2023 home-buying season continues, the prospect of even better seller profits remains in place but will depend heavily on whether any or all of those factors improve or decline. Profit margins grow quarterly in two-thirds of U.S. but remain down annuallyTypical profit margins – the percent difference between median purchase and resale prices – increased from the first quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2023 in 107 (69 percent) of the 156 metropolitan statistical areas around the U.S. with sufficient data to analyze. However, they were still down in 118, or 76 percent, of those metros compared to the second quarter of last year, as the recent improvements were not enough to wipe out losses sustained from the middle of 2022 to the early part of 2023. Metro areas were included if they had sufficient population and at least 1,000 single-family home and condo sales in the second quarter of 2023. The biggest quarterly increases in typical profit margins came in the metro areas of Barnstable, MA (margin up from 47 percent in the first quarter of 2023 to 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023); Fort Wayne, IN (up from 46.7 percent to 65.5 percent); Augusta, GA (up from 45.7 percent to 64.1 percent); Rochester, NY (up from 50.9 percent to 68 percent) and Charleston, SC (up from 37.7 percent to 52 percent). Aside from Rochester, the biggest quarterly profit-margin increases in metro areas with a population of at least 1 million in the second quarter of 2023 were in Grand Rapids, MI (return up from 63.9 percent to 76.5 percent); Raleigh, NC (up from 35.8 percent to 47.7 percent), Hartford, CT (up from 38.5 percent to 50.1 percent) and San Diego, CA (up from 45.3 percent to 56.7 percent). Typical profit margins decreased quarterly in just 49 of the 156 metro areas analyzed (31 percent). The biggest quarterly decreases were in Scranton, PA (margin down from 86.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023 to 70.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023); Hilo, HI (down from 101.5 percent to 86.7 percent); Detroit, MI (down from 90 percent to 76 percent); Spartanburg, SC (down from 60.6 percent to 46.6 percent) and Flint, MI (down from 91.6 percent to 80.5 percent). Aside from Detroit, the largest quarterly decreases in profit margins among metro areas with a population of at least 1 million came in Pittsburgh, PA (down from 50.9 percent to 40.2 percent); Buffalo, NY (down from 70.9 percent to 61.5 percent); Indianapolis, IN (down from 48.7 percent to 40.4 percent) and Honolulu, HI (down from 47.1 percent to 41.1 percent). Metro areas with a population of at least 1 million where typical profits remained down the most annually included Austin, TX (margin down from 80.3 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to 47.2 percent in the second quarter of 2023), San Francisco, CA (down from 85.1 percent to 59.4 percent); Phoenix, AZ (down from 75.8 percent to 51.6 percent); Salt Lake City, UT (down from 69.3 percent to 46.4 percent) and Las Vegas, NV (down from 66.5 percent to 46.5 percent). Raw profits up in almost 90 percent of housing marketsProfits on median-priced home sales nationwide, measured in raw dollars, increased from $96,573 in the first quarter of 2023 to $113,000 in the second quarter, a 17 percent gain. Typical raw profits went up quarterly in 137, or 88 percent, of the metro areas analyzed for this report. Annually, however, raw profits remained down 4.6 percent from a record high of $118,400 in the second quarter of 2022. They dropped

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Cortland, a vertically integrated, multifamily real estate investment, development, and management company, announced it has appointed Juan Bueno President of Operations to support the firm’s operating platform. In this newly created role, Bueno will oversee a variety of critical functions, including Operations and Facilities, Analytics, Revenue, Talent, Marketing, Communications, and Resident Experience. In partnership with these teams, he will lead Cortland’s transformational pursuit of a modernized operations and service delivery platform that enables a consistent, personalized, high-quality customer and associate experience. “I am thrilled to welcome Juan to lead the next step in Cortland’s evolution and accelerate our commitment to providing a level of hospitality that creates an unrivaled living experience,” CEO Steven DeFrancis said. “Given his significant experience in the consumer and real estate industries, we look forward to seeing the positive impact Juan will have on our company and our residents.” Most recently, Bueno served as U.S. President for Avison Young, where he led the transformation of the firm’s business approach and organizational structure, spearheaded corporate acquisitions to grow the company, and developed the company’s 5-year strategic growth plan. Prior to that, Bueno was Vice President of Sales for Home Depot Pro, where he led more than 2,100 associates across the company’s four business units (Multifamily, Renovator, Institutional, and Specialty Trades). He also spent more than 15 years in management consulting, including more than a decade with McKinsey & Company. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join this first-rate company and work with a market-leading group of professionals,” Bueno said. “By leveraging the strength of a vertically integrated platform, our service-oriented culture and a clear focus on resident experience, Cortland is poised for continued growth in the coming years.” About Cortland:Cortland is a vertically integrated, multifamily real estate investment, development, and management company focused on delivering resident-centric, hospitality-driven apartment living experiences. Headquartered in Atlanta, Cortland manages and is invested in, directly or indirectly, over 250 apartment communities comprised of over 80,000 homes in the US with regional offices in Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa. Cortland has significant experience in acquiring, developing, renovating, owning, and operating multifamily communities, leveraging the services of its construction, design, and property, asset, and investment management affiliates. Internationally, Cortland maintains a management and development platform in the UK. SOURCE Cortland