News Updates

Court Strikes Down Eviction Ban

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U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the District of Columbia struck down a nationwide eviction moratorium Wednesday, calling it unlawful. Friedrich’s ruling applies nationwide. The eviction ban was put in place last year by the Trump administration using public health powers granted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during health emergencies. The ban was most recently extended by President Biden through the end of June. In her 20-page ruling, Friedrich said, “It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic. The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.” The Georgia and Alabama Association of REALTORS®, two housing providers, and their property management companies, filed the suit in defense of mom-and-pop property owners around the country struggling to pay bills without rental income for more than a year. NAR—which helped secure nearly $50 billion in rental assistance provided by Congress since December to help tenants pay their bills and provide relief to housing providers who have lost income—supported the lawsuit, saying the ban was no longer needed. “NAR has always maintained that the best solution for all parties was rental assistance to cover the rent, taxes and utility bills for tenants struggling during the pandemic,” says NAR President Charlie Oppler. “This decision prevents two crises—one for tenants, and one for mom-and-pop housing providers who do not have a reprieve from their bills. With rental assistance secured, the economy growing, and unemployment rates falling, there is no need to continue a blanket, nationwide eviction ban. With this safety net firmly in place, the market needs a return to normalcy and stability.” Oppler adds that “our attention now should turn to the swift and efficient implementation of rental assistance.” Read the court opinion.

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87 percent purchased five or fewer investment homes in 2020 78 percent purchase most investment properties within driving distance 62 percent rent occupied properties back to current occupants Auction.com, the nation’s leading distressed real estate marketplace, released its 2021 Buyer Insights Report, which shows that more than three out of every four distressed property buyers are local investors and nearly nine in 10 buyers purchased five or fewer investment properties in 2020. Based on a Q1 2021 survey of Auction.com buyers, the report also found that rehabbing and reselling to owner-occupants was the primary investing strategy for the majority of buyers (57 percent) while 38 percent of buyers said their primary investing strategy involved acquiring investment property as rentals. Among those rental investors, 62 percent said that they have rented back to current occupants of occupied homes. “A transparent and democratized distressed property marketplace attracts a diverse set of mostly local real estate investors who are committed to doing good in the communities where they invest,” said Jason Allnutt, Auction.com CEO. “Not surprisingly, these local buyers are the best option for responsibly returning distressed properties to retail buyers and renters. Sixty-two percent of our buyers report they have successfully avoided an eviction by keeping the occupants in the homes as renters.” More than two-thirds of buyers (66 percent) said they budget at least 20 percent of a property’s purchase price for rehab and holding costs, while more than one-third (34 percent) budget at least 30 percent of a property’s purchase price for rehab and holding costs. Based on the average sales price of homes sold on Auction.com in 2020, that would be a budget of between $27,000 and $40,000 per property. Click HERE to read the full report. The report contains several case studies of distressed properties purchased by Auction.com buyers. Other high-level findings from the report: Building long-term wealth and creating new income sources were the top investing motivations for most buyers, but a combined 13 percent of buyers ranked improving homes and neighborhoods or investing back into the community as their top motivation for investing. 74 percent of buyers believe home prices in their local market will rise at least 3 percent in 2021, but 40 percent described their local market as overvalued with a correction possible. 93 percent of buyers expect their 2021 acquisitions to increase or remain the same compared to their 2020 acquisitions. About Auction.com Auction.com is the world’s leading distressed real estate marketplace that engages buyers with a real-time bidding process, providing more transparency than a traditional real estate transaction. With more than 700 employees in offices across the United States, Auction.com uses world-class technology and data science to bring buyers and sellers closer together, bridging the gap between both sides and unleashing the power of the marketplace with its unrivaled transaction platform. For more information, visit: https://www.auction.com

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Home sales over last ten years prove spring and summer months offer best premiums; Home sellers on average realize 8.8 percent premium above market value ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, released its annual analysis of the best days of the year to sell a home, which shows that the months of May and June offer the greatest home seller premiums – with ten of the best days to sell in the month of May alone. According to this most recent analysis of 40.1 million home sales from 2011-2020, home sellers selling in the late spring and early summer are realizing the biggest premiums – on average 13.4 percent above estimated market value in May and 11.7 percent above in June. The analysis looked at any calendar days in the last ten years with at least 10,000 single family home and condo sales. “As home sellers continue to enjoy an extended sellers’ market, moving full steam ahead from the momentum gained over the last ten years, the month of May is particularly poised to garner the greatest sale premiums,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Among the top five days fetching the biggest home seller premiums, May 23 is the best day of the year to sell a home, producing a premium of 19.3 percent above market value.” Best Months to SellThe analysis also presents a more high-level view, showcasing how seller premiums faired throughout each month of the year. The months realizing the biggest home seller premiums include: May (13.4 percent); June (11.7 percent); July (11.2 percent); April (9.2 percent); August (8.9 percent); March (8.6 percent); February (8.2 percent); September (7.5 percent); January (6.6 percent); November (6.4 percent); October (5.8 percent); and December (5.8 percent). 2011 to 2020 Sales of Single Family Homes and Condos Month Number of Sales Median Sales Price Median AVM Seller Premium May 3,646,841 $ 197,400 $ 174,000 13.4% June 3,967,058 $ 206,000 $ 184,500 11.7% July 3,926,975 $ 209,000 $ 188,000 11.2% April 3,287,804 $ 190,000 $ 174,000 9.2% August 3,977,547 $ 205,000 $ 188,246 8.9% March 3,158,578 $ 185,000 $ 170,340 8.6% February 2,408,981 $ 177,510 $ 164,000 8.2% September 3,504,546 $ 201,000 $ 187,000 7.5% January 2,495,898 $ 178,058 $ 167,000 6.6% November 3,037,403 $ 200,000 $ 188,000 6.4% October 3,557,622 $ 200,000 $ 188,979 5.8% December 3,218,651 $ 200,000 $ 189,000 5.8% About ATTOM Data SolutionsATTOM Data Solutions provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation’s population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes and enhances the data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 20TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, marketing lists, match & append and introducing the first property data delivery solution, a cloud-based data platform that streamlines data management – Data-as-a-Service (DaaS).

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– 217,000 homeowners became past due on their mortgages in March, the lowest such delinquency inflow of any month on record – At the same time, cures spiked in the month as a variety of calendar and economy-driven factors resulted in the second largest delinquency rate decline ever recorded – The number of loans 30 days past due fell 34% from February and 50% from the same time last year to hit an all-time low, with 60-day delinquencies below pre-pandemic levels and near record lows as well – Despite expected seasonal headwinds associated with the month, Black Knight’s McDash Flash daily performance dataset shows strong early mortgage payment activity in April – Through April 23, 91.6% of mortgage holders had made their mortgage payments, up from 91% in March and the largest share for any month since the onset of the pandemic – Should this trend hold true through April’s final week, another improvement in overall delinquent loan volumes is likely to be seen when month-end data is reported in mid-May The Data & Analytics division of Black Knight, Inc. (NYSE:BKI) released its latest Mortgage Monitor Report, based upon the company’s industry-leading mortgage, real estate and public records datasets. In light of March’s 16.4% decline in delinquencies – as reported in Black Knight’s First Look at the month’s data – this month’s report drills deeper into what that may mean for the market. According to Black Knight Data & Analytics President Ben Graboske, both the company’s full-month data for March and its unique McDash Flash daily performance tracking data for April suggest strengthening economic trends are now manifesting in the mortgage market. “Not only did March see the largest single-month improvement in delinquencies in 11 years, but all indications suggest more is yet to come,” said Graboske. “Several factors contributed to particularly strong mortgage performance in March, including the distribution of 159 million stimulus payments totaling more than $376 billion, broader economic improvement leading to nearly a million new jobs and 1.2 million forbearance plans reviewed for extension or removal, resulting in an 11% decline in plan volumes in the last 30 days. As many early forbearance plan adopters shifted to post-forbearance waterfalls to get back to performing on their mortgage payments, inflow has continued to steadily improve as well. And, of the 7.1 million homeowners who have been in COVID-19 forbearance at one point or another, performance among those who have left plans has generally been strong. “Some other key metrics also point to a robust recovery under way. Despite mortgage delinquencies tending to trend seasonally upward starting in April, our McDash Flash daily performance dataset instead shows strong early payment activity for the month. Through April 23, 91.6% of mortgage holders had made their monthly payments, up from 91% in March and the largest share for any month since the onset of the pandemic. That said, while overall sentiment for an economic recovery in 2021 remains robust, mortgage performance is expected to run into seasonal headwinds for most of the remainder of the year, which could marginally dampen overall improvement rates. Black Knight will continue to monitor the situation as we move forward.” The report’s data showed that the number of borrowers with a single payment past due fell by 34% from February and is now down 50% from the same time last year to hit an all-time low in March. Though 60-day delinquencies are also now back below pre-pandemic levels and near record lows as well, the number of homeowners 90 or more days past due remains nearly five times what it was prior to COVID. One possibility for early-stage delinquencies falling well below pre-pandemic levels could be an elevated share of borrowers are rolling forward to later stages of delinquency – when they otherwise might not – due to participation in available forbearance programs. Much more detail can be found in Black Knight’s February 2021 Mortgage Monitor Report. About the Mortgage Monitor The Data & Analytics division of Black Knight manages the nation’s leading repository of loan-level residential mortgage data and performance information covering the majority of the overall market, including tens of millions of loans across the spectrum of credit products and more than 160 million historical records. The combined insight of the Black Knight HPI and Collateral Analytics’ home price and real estate data provides one of the most complete, accurate and timely measures of home prices available, covering 95% of U.S. residential properties down to the ZIP-code level. In addition, the company maintains one of the most robust public property records databases available, covering 99.9% of the U.S. population and households from more than 3,100 counties. Black Knight’s research experts carefully analyze this data to produce a summary supplemented by dozens of charts and graphs that reflect trend and point-in-time observations for the monthly Mortgage Monitor Report. To review the full report, visit: https://www.blackknightinc.com/data-reports/ About Black Knight Black Knight, Inc. (NYSE:BKI) is an award-winning software, data and analytics company that drives innovation in the mortgage lending and servicing and real estate industries, as well as the capital and secondary markets. Businesses leverage our robust, integrated solutions across the entire homeownership life cycle to help retain existing customers, gain new customers, mitigate risk, and operate more effectively. Our clients rely on our proven, comprehensive, scalable products and our unwavering commitment to delivering superior client support to achieve their strategic goals and better serving their customers. For more information on Black Knight, please visit www.blackknightinc.com/.

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Rising number of real estate investors turn to San Francisco lender for financing needs LendingHome, one of the nation’s largest lenders to real estate investors, announced the company in March surpassed $200 million in funding volume for the first time — eclipsing the previous monthly record. LendingHome funded loans equaling $219 million, including one for $9.3 million with high-profile Pintar Investment Company to refinance a 56-unit rental home community in Florida. March’s total volume of loans represented a more than 30% increase over the former monthly high set in December 2020. “LendingHome is proud to be the partner of choice for real estate investors and provide them with exceptional, reliable service to help meet their goals,” said Arvind Mohan, LendingHome’s chief operating officer. “We are excited for the opportunities and growth we see ahead of us as we expand our footprint in the real estate investment space.” LendingHome continues to grow at a record-setting pace. During the past six years, the company has provided $7 billion in financing for more than 32,000 properties, helping real estate investors create more than $3.4 billion of value in their renovations of aged homes. Additionally, last year, the lender funded twice as many loans as the company’s closest competitor. COVID-19 impacted many segments of the real estate sector, and during this challenging period many lenders stopped loaning money. In contrast, LendingHome continued to finance projects throughout the pandemic. In the current environment, much of the news about real estate is focused on the lack of residential inventory available for sale, but acquisitions occur every day, and LendingHome provides financing for many of them. LendingHome has built proprietary machine learning and predictive-analytics capabilities, while acquiring the kind of market knowledge that enables managers to assess value with greater precision. LendingHome combines analytics and know-how to help investors avoid overextending themselves. LendingHome estimates that nationwide, 76% of investment properties are sold for a profit. When LendingHome provides the financing that number jumps to 93%. About LendingHome LendingHome is now one of the nation’s top lenders for real estate investors with more than $7 billion in loans originated to date. Established in 2013, LendingHome makes it easy for professional and first-time real estate investors to quickly and reliably receive the financing they need for their projects and businesses to thrive. Using a powerful combination of innovative technology and expert advice, LendingHome has added flexibility and simplicity to every step of the borrowing process. For further information, please visit lendinghome.com. NMLS ID #1125207

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New construction is taking up a bigger piece of the pie as low mortgage rates and surging homebuyer demand make homebuilding more attractive during the coronavirus pandemic More than a quarter (25.7%) of single-family homes for sale in America during the first quarter were new-construction homes, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That is up from 20.4% a year earlier and represents the highest share on record. New-construction homes have steadily been taking up a larger piece of the pie over the last decade, but there has been a notable acceleration during the coronavirus pandemic. There are two primary reasons, according to Redfin Lead Economist Taylor Marr: an increase in homebuilding and a decrease in the number of Americans putting their houses up for sale. “Building homes has become more attractive and profitable during the pandemic due to record-low mortgage rates and red-hot homebuyer demand,” Marr said. “At the same time, many homeowners have opted to stay put and refinance or remodel their existing homes instead of selling them, allowing new-construction homes to take up a larger portion of the market.” U.S. housing starts—the number of new residential construction projects—jumped nearly 20% month over month in March to the highest level since 2006, a sign that homebuilders are growing more bullish despite lumber shortages and elevated construction costs. Meanwhile, listings of existing homes fell. A lot of pandemic homebuyers have also turned to the new-construction market because bidding wars are fierce and new homes have historically attracted less competition. But the U.S. housing shortage has grown so severe that some newly built homes now have waitlists that are 90 buyers deep, said Redfin’s Salt Lake City Market Manager, Ryan Aycock. Some builders are even canceling contracts with buyers who refuse to accept price increases. “New construction has typically been a good option for buyers who don’t want to deal with bidding wars because builders don’t usually set deadlines for offers. Buyers also like that they can often buy a new home for what it’s actually listed for rather than having to offer way over the asking price to win,” said Redfin Houston real estate agent Melanie Miller. “However, inventory for new construction is very low and prices are now rising for many new and pre-construction homes because lumber prices have gone up. I had one buyer who came to terms with a builder at a certain price. The builder called us the next day and said they can’t do that price anymore because their suppliers just increased prices.” El Paso, TX and Boise, ID Have the Highest Share of New-Construction HomesIn El Paso, TX, 53.2% of single-family homes for sale in the first quarter were newly built—the largest share of the 82 U.S. metropolitan areas in Redfin’s analysis. Metros must have had populations of at least 750,000 and at least 50 sales of newly built single-family homes in the first quarter to be included in Redfin’s analysis. The other metros in the top 10 were Boise, ID (46.7%), Houston (35.5%), Raleigh, NC (34.5%), Baton Rouge, LA (34.1%), Albany, NY (33.7%), Nashville, TN (31.9%), Charlotte, NC (31.6%), Oklahoma City, OK (30.8%) and Knoxville, TN (29.6%). In Fresno, CA, just 2.4% of single-family homes for sale in the first quarter were newly built—the smallest share of the 82 metros in Redfin’s analysis. It was followed by Oakland, CA (2.9%), Bakersfield, CA (3.2%), Riverside, CA (3.4%), Pittsburgh (3.8%), Anaheim, CA (4.2%), San Diego (4.4%), Las Vegas (4.5%), Camden, NJ (4.7%) and Newark, NJ (5%). California metros fill the bottom of the list in part because they tend to have less vacant land available and less space zoned for housing development, Marr said. When broken down by region, the West had the lowest share of newly built homes as a portion of total single-family homes for sale, at just 8.4%. It was followed by the Northeast (11.4%), the Midwest (15.4%) and the South (25.8%). Certain major metros are excluded from Redfin’s analysis because its methodology filters out metros where there were fewer than 50 sales of newly built single-family homes in the first quarter. San Francisco and Philadelphia are among the metros excluded for this reason. Looking Ahead: Building Permits Are Up the Most In Elgin, IL and Tacoma, WASingle-family building permits, or government-granted authorizations that allow builders to begin construction of single-family homes, jumped 25.7% year over year during the first quarter. In Elgin, IL, single-family permits climbed 68.3%—the biggest jump of the metros in Redfin’s analysis for which U.S. Census permit data was available. It was followed by Tacoma, WA (58.9%), Bridgeport, CT (57.9%), Minneapolis (57.5%) and Albany, NY (57%). Just five of the metros in Redfin’s analysis saw a decline in single-family permits. The largest drop was in Newark, NJ, where permits fell 22% from a year earlier in the first quarter. Next came Allentown, PA (-19.6%), Virginia Beach, VA (-10.5%), San Diego (-9.2%) and Camden, NJ (-5.6%). To read the full report, including charts with metro-level data, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/new-construction-Q1-2021