REI INK

WORD OF THE DAY: Monopsony

  • by
  • Comment Off
  • 445 views

[mə-NAHP-sə-nee] Part of speech: noun Origin: Greek, 1930s Definition: (Economics) A market situation in which there is only one buyer. Examples of Monopsony in a sentence “The conglomerate used questionable tactics to create this monopsony.” “Is Amazon a monopsony in the goods market?” About Monopsony This word stems from the Greek suffix “mono-” meaning “one” and the Greek “opsōnein,” meaning “buy provisions.” Did you Know? “Monopsony” can be easily mistaken with “monopoly,” but they have somewhat inverse definitions. While a “monopsony” is a market situation in which there is only one buyer of a good or service, a “monopoly” is a situation in which there is only one producer of a good or service. Economic theory proposes that monopsonies can lead to lower wages for workers because they are paid less than their marginal revenue product.

Read More

Elevated Inflation, Higher Interest Rates Expected to Take Toll on Consumer Spending

  • by
  • Comment Off
  • 364 views

Housing Predicted to Drag on Growth Through 2023 as Financial Conditions Tighten The compounding effects of elevated inflation and higher interest rates are expected to further weigh on economic growth and home sales as the year progresses, with full-year 2022 growth now forecast at a slightly reduced 1.2 percent and expectations of a late-2023 modest economic contraction unchanged, according to the June 2022 commentary from the Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. While consumers’ resilience to the predicted financial stress remains an open question, the ESR Group now forecasts personal consumption growth to slow from 4.2 percent in Q2 2022 to 1.9 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, in Q3 2022 and Q4 2022. Residential fixed investment, driven in part by an even further reduced home sales forecast, is projected to decline 8.6 percent in 2022 and 6.5 percent in 2023 – the largest percentage declines among the major GDP components. Substantially higher mortgage rates are now the housing market’s primary constraint. The ESR Group expects total home sales to fall 13.5 percent in 2022 – down even further from its 11.1 percent projected decline last month – and, correspondingly, for mortgage originations to move downward to $2.6 trillion in 2022 and $2.2 trillion in 2023. Refinance origination activity, in particular, continues to slow, as evidenced by Fannie Mae’s new Refinance Application-Level Index, with only an estimated 2 percent of outstanding mortgages having at least a 50-basis-point incentive to refinance. “The market’s expectations of the necessary Federal Reserve response to persistent broad-based inflation continue to adjust,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Tightening financial conditions are slowing economic activity, and consumers are drawing down savings and increasingly relying on credit cards as they seek to maintain current levels of consumption.” “The significant, sudden rise in interest rates is beginning to be felt widely as employment growth slows and stock market valuations fall,” Duncan said. “Nowhere is this more evident than in housing affordability measures, with the prospective monthly payment on a typical new mortgage climbing dramatically. As a result, both new and existing home sales continue to slow, while refinance activity has fallen substantially, with what’s left largely consisting of equity extraction.” Duncan continued: “Our view continues to be that the magnitude of response required of monetary and fiscal tightening to return inflation to the Federal Reserve’s target will likely result in a recession, which we currently expect will be modest and occur next year. Notably, the recent market response to continued heightened inflation suggests that the predicted recession could occur sooner and be deeper than our current baseline forecast.” Visit the Economic & Strategic Research site at fanniemae.com to read the full June 2022 Economic Outlook, including the Economic Developments Commentary, Economic Forecast, Housing Forecast, and Multifamily Market Commentary. To receive e-mail updates with other housing market research from Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group, please click here

Read More

WORD OF THE DAY: Soigné

  • by
  • Comment Off
  • 815 views

[swan-YAY] Part of speech: adjective Origin: French, 19th century Definition: Dressed very elegantly; well groomed. Examples of Soigné in a sentence “Matthew was tall, handsome, and soigné when he met Lucy for their date.” “Looking at the photographs of his grandparents, Joe was surprised at how soigné they were.” About Soigné “Soigné” is the past participle of the French verb “soigner,” meaning “to take care of.” In turn, “soigner” comes from the French word “soin,” meaning “care.” Did you Know? French words have masculine and feminine forms. To use “soigné” to describe a woman, the feminine adjective would be pronounced the same, but it has an additional “e” on the end: “soignée.” For example, “Sarah was tall, fair, and soignée.” In English, it’s not necessary to differentiate between the masculine and feminine forms.

Read More

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Increases Slightly in May 2022

  • by
  • Comment Off
  • 355 views

Foreclosure Starts Decrease 1 Percent from Last Month, While Completed Foreclosures Increase 1 Percent ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, released its May 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 30,881 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 1 percent from a month ago but up 185 percent from a year ago. Illinois, New Jersey and Delaware had the highest foreclosure rates Nationwide one in every 4,549 housing units had a foreclosure filing in May 2022. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 2,000 housing units with a foreclosure filing); New Jersey (one in every 2,346 housing units); Delaware (one in every 2,426 housing units); Ohio (one in every 2,667 housing units); and Florida (one in every 2,788 housing units). “While there’s some volatility in the monthly numbers, foreclosure activity overall is continuing its slow, steady climb back to normal after two years of government intervention led to historically low levels of defaults,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “But with inflation now at a 41-year high, and runaway prices on necessities like food and gasoline, we may see foreclosure activity ramp up a little faster than most forecasts suggest.” Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in May 2022 were Jacksonville, NC (one in every 1,052 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Cleveland, OH (one in every 1,389 housing units); Chicago, IL (one in every 1,777 housing units); Fayetteville, NC (one in every 1,823 housing units); and Rockford, IL (one in every 1,861 housing units). Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million, with the worst foreclosure rates in May 2022 including Cleveland, OH and Chicago, IL were: Jacksonville, FL (one in every 1,985 housing units); Orlando, FL (one in every 2,295 housing units); and Miami, FL (one in every 2,432 housing units). Florida, California and Texas had the greatest number of foreclosure starts Lenders started the foreclosure process on 22,099 U.S. properties in May 2022, down 1 percent from last month but up 274 percent from a year ago. States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in May 2022 included: Florida (2,483 foreclosure starts); California (2,238 foreclosure starts); Texas (2,019 foreclosure starts); Illinois (1,757 foreclosure starts); and Ohio (1,285 foreclosure starts). Those major metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million and that had at least 100 foreclosure starts in May 2022 and saw increases from last month included: Miami, FL (up 81 percent); Washington, DC (up 60 percent); Birmingham, AL (up 56 percent); Cincinnati, OH (up 54 percent); and Jacksonville, FL (up 54 percent). “It’s interesting that there were almost ten times more foreclosure starts than foreclosure completions,” Sharga added. “This suggests that financially-distressed borrowers may be finding ways to avoid losing their home to a foreclosure sale.” Foreclosure completion numbers increase 1 percent from last month Lenders repossessed 2,857 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in May 2022, up 1 percent from last month and up 117 percent from last year. States that had the greatest number of REOs in May 2022, included: Illinois (350 REOs); Michigan (249 REOs); Pennsylvania (226 REOs); New Jersey (175 REOs); and Ohio (146 REOs). Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of REOs in May 2022 included: Chicago, IL (289 REOs); New York, NY (133 REOs); Detroit, MI (124 REOs); Philadelphia, PA (98 REOs); and Pittsburgh, PA (79 REOs). About ATTOM ATTOM 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 real estate 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, property reports and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management – ATTOM Cloud.

Read More

Hippo 2022 Homeowner Preparedness Report

  • by
  • Comment Off
  • 386 views

Inflation and Supply Chain Shortages May Be Holding Homeowners Back From Critical Home Maintenance Hippo, the home insurance group focused on proactive protection, announced findings from its 2022 Homeowner Preparedness Report, revealing the effect of today’s economic climate on homeowners as they deal with the responsibilities that come with owning a home. According to the national survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. homeowners and renters, owning a home is still a critical part of achieving their life goals, but it may come at a cost for those who lack a clear understanding of homeownership responsibilities. With national inflation rates reaching a high of 8.5 percent already this year, homeowners today have been more hesitant than in previous years to complete important home maintenance projects, with more than half of first-time homeowners (51%) putting them off due to inflation and price increases, and just one in five homeowners (20%) setting aside money or creating a budget to pay for home upgrades or maintenance. In addition to heightened financial pressures, nearly a third of homeowners (31%) surveyed say they have experienced unexpected repairs to their home in the past year that were caused by severe weather or climate-related issues. With growing financial and climate uncertainty, establishing a preventative home care routine for homeowners to tackle smaller issues before they become costly repairs is more important than ever. “As homeowners navigate their daily responsibilities, proactive home maintenance shouldn’t be an afterthought. Instead, it should be met with a sense of confidence and accomplishment in protecting what many Americans consider their most important financial asset,” said Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo. “There’s no denying there are an increasing number of external factors affecting homeowners today. At Hippo Insurance Services, we review policies annually to ensure customers have the right amount of coverage within the current economic environment, and partner with homeowners to proactively protect their homes by offering them the tools they need to succeed.” Report Key Findings: For homeowners, owning a home remains critical to obtaining the American dream Despite repair needs and external pressures, homeowners maintain their joy of homeownership and view it to be a key to happiness. 70% of homeowners find homeownership to be an important part of the American dream; with nearly three-quarters (74%) agreeing it is a key to happiness Two-thirds of renters (66%) who are likely to purchase a home in the next year agree homeownership is a key to happiness Nearly half of younger homeowners (Gen Z and Millennial) (46%) are driven by their desire to become a homeowner and the vast majority (66%) agree homeownership is an important part of the American dream Nearly all homeowners (90%) report a sense of happiness when it comes to owning their home, compared to just one-third of renters (31%) who feel a sense of happiness when it comes to renting their home Homeowners have big dreams of wanting to take on more responsibility, yet a lack of education stands in the way Although eager to stay on top of home maintenance, one in three homeowners (31%) put off repairs or upgrades, mainly due to limited knowledge and time. Nearly all of homeowners (94%) say they would rather take action on smaller repairs now to save big on costs later—especially first-time homeowners However, one-third of homeowners (31%) wait until something breaks in their home, and of those homeowners, 28% say they wait because of a lack of knowledge around home maintenance, while 27% say they don’t have time to regularly check that things are working Three in five homeowners (60%) have paid an average of nearly $4,000 in unexpected repairs in the past year Among homeowners, just 20% say they have a budget or regularly set aside money for home maintenance External pressures bring about new challenges for homeowners when it comes to responsible home care and maintenance For first-time and recent homeowners alike, inflation and supply chain issues could be getting in the way of their home care, while all homeowners face climate-related pressures. Two in five homeowners (43%) have not moved forward with or planned home maintenance or improvement projects due to inflation More than half of first-time homeowners (51%) say inflation and price increases have kept them from doing planned home maintenance or improvements over the past few months More than one-third of homeowners (39%) say supply chain issues and shortages have hindered their planned home maintenance projects Nearly half of new homeowners (47%), those who purchased their home post-pandemic (after 2020), cite supply chain issues and shortages hindering their home project plans One in three homeowners (31%) have experienced damage to their home caused by severe weather or climate-related issues Owning a home has long been part of the American dream and as seen through the report results, continues to be today for many aspiring and current homeowners. As homeowners face new challenges in proactively protecting their homes, having a partner in their home’s protection is essential. Hippo takes a proactive approach to homeownership by offering services and tools focused on preventative care that help customers reduce risks, including smart home devices and preventive home maintenance support, along with seasonal home care tips and advice. Hippo provides a level of support and care that helps homeowners to live their best lives in their homes. To learn more about the report and findings, please visit the 2022 Homeowner Preparedness Report here.

Read More

WORD OF THE DAY: Coterie

  • by
  • Comment Off
  • 685 views

[kō-tə-(ˌ)rē] Part of speech: noun Origin: French, 18th century Definition: a tightly knit group of people with a common interest or goal; an inner circle that excludes outsiders. Examples of Coterie in a sentence “She was always walking with her coterie of close friends, which made talking to her alone impossible.” “I tried joining the club, but it was really more of a coterie considering they rejected my application outright.” About Coterie It’s no wonder that farmers in 18th century feudal Europe wanted to form a coterie to protect their rights. Over 90% of the total population at the time worked in the field, and they were so overworked and underfed that most died by age 30. It didn’t help that kings and lords considered themselves designated as rulers by God himself. Did you Know? Farmers in 18th century France would sometimes get together and form an organization, or cotier. That means coiteries were essentially the world’s first workers’ unions.

Read More