Newsletter – Page 118

Experts Say Zoning Changes Are Most Effective Path to Boost Housing Supply for a More-Balanced Market

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A Zillow survey of economists and other real estate experts finds high costs are expected to slow construction and may lower homeownership among today’s 30-somethings. – The expert panel’s prediction for home price growth is the most optimistic ever in the quarterly survey that dates back to 2010. – The panel expects new construction to slow in the coming years, with high costs as the main barrier. But last quarter, the same panel predicted total inventory would rise later this year thanks mainly to more existing homes being listed for sale. – Relaxing zoning rules is what the panel says would be most productive to increase new housing supply. Relaxing zoning rules would be the most effective way to increase supply in a housing market currently near historic inventory lows, experts say in the latest Zillow® Home Price Expectations Survey. On the current path, those experts anticipate new construction growth to stall and home prices to rise, resulting in fewer of today’s 30-somethings owning homes. High costs are expected to slow new construction momentum, which would be a blow to home shoppers who are already facing an intensely competitive market with relatively few available homes when compared to the number of interested buyers. On average, the panel expects new housing starts to end the year 2.5% below December 2020 levels, and to fall an additional 2% by the end of 2022. Panelists cited the high cost of labor, materials and land as the biggest headwinds for home builders. “A prediction for a construction slowdown is surprising given recent positive readings, but it’s clear the panel believes rising costs will drag down the pace of construction from its impressive speed this spring,” said Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker. “Builders have been firing on all cylinders to meet the excess demand from buyers left unmet by the existing home market, and demand appears poised to stay high for years to come. But builders will need more than willing buyers to close the massive shortfall since the Great Recession. They need buildable land, and the panel overwhelmingly pointed to zoning changes as a leading way to move the needle, with the potential to open up enough building capacity to add millions of homes.” When asked what could be done to increase housing supply, relaxing zoning rules was the runaway top choice. Previous Zillow research has found even a modest amount of upzoning in large metro areas could add 3.3 million homes to the U.S. housing stock, creating room for more than half of the missing households since the Great Recession — a major reason for today’s frenzied housing demand. A majority (57%) of homeowners Zillow previously surveyed believe they and others should be able to add additional housing on their property, and 30% said they would be willing to invest money to create housing on their own property, if allowed. Other recommendations to increase housing supply according to the panel include easing the land subdivision process, relaxing local review regulations for projects of a certain size, accelerating the adoption of new construction technologies and increasing training to build up the construction workforce. New construction is of course not the only path to more inventory — a majority of the same panel, when surveyed in Q1 2021, said they expect housing inventory to begin growing again this year, with an increase in existing homes being listed for sale being the most likely catalyst for inventory growth. Previous Zillow research has shown widespread coronavirus vaccine distribution would make 14 million households newly comfortable moving. With housing demand showing no signs of slowing from a pandemic-fueled boom in the second half of 2020, the expert panel has once again adjusted their home price growth expectations upward. The panel’s average home value growth prediction for 2021 is 8.7% — the highest for any year since the inception of the quarterly survey in 2010. That’s up from 6.2% last quarter and more than double the expectation from the Q4 2020 survey (4.2%). Home value growth is expected to moderate down to 5.1% in 2022, according to the panel, which would still be strong growth compared to a historical average of about 4%. “A profound shift in housing preferences, adoption of remote employment, low mortgage rates, and the recovering economy continue to stoke demand in the single-family market and drive prices higher,” said Terry Loebs, founder of Pulsenomics. “Strict zoning regulations, an acute labor shortage, and record-high materials costs are constraining new construction, compounding disequilibrium, and reinforcing expectations that above-normal rates of home price growth will persist beyond the near-term.” Average rates for a fixed 30-year mortgage currently sit near 3%. Panelists expect a small rise to 3.45% by the end of the year, continuing to 3.99% at the end of 2022. That would add $55 to a monthly payment on a typical home at the end of this year, and $124 at the end of 2022. Still, this would represent a bargain historically. Average rates were near 5% as recently as 2018, and they started the 2000s above 8%. In large part due to affordability challenges from rising home prices, the panel on average expects homeownership among 35-44 year-olds will drop slightly over the next five years, when that group will be dominated by millennials. The majority (54%) of experts who expect homeownership to fall among this age group by 2026 cited worsening affordability, via higher mortgage rates and/or home prices, as the top cause. Of the more optimistic panelists who anticipate more homeowners in this age group, most (61%) said an increased preference to own instead of rent would be the primary driver, possibly because of how the pandemic and the rise of remote work options has changed what we want and need in a home. About Zillow GroupZillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make it easier to unlock life’s next chapter. As the most-visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates offer customers an on-demand experience for selling, buying, renting or financing with transparency and nearly seamless end-to-end service. Zillow Offers® buys and sells homes directly in dozens of markets across the country, allowing

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New Web Platform Houses the Industry’s Largest Database RealtyTrac, the largest online marketplace for foreclosure and distressed properties and an ATTOM Data Solutions company, announced a significant enhancement of its data offerings and resources – available on realtytrac.com – to help individual investors and real estate agents find, analyze and invest in residential properties. The new web platform showcases RealtyTrac’s property- level database which includes more than 90% of foreclosure properties in the U.S., the largest distressed real estate database available to investors and agents. The new RealtyTrac website offers interactive resources, including property investment analysis tools and finance options. These expanded services provide a single-source for those looking to either fix and flip, or buy, fix and rent properties for ongoing revenue generation. For real estate agents, the site helps them find inventory for their clients who are interested in buying foreclosure homes. “We’ve paid attention to what individual investors are looking for with regard to search functionality and property analysis and have built that into our new offerings,” said RealtyTrac General Manager Ohan Antebian. “Having a single source for distressed property data, coupled with advanced analytic tools and investor education, gives property investors a real advantage in identifying, acquiring and managing their real estate investments.” As part of its expansion, RealtyTrac is partnering with the six largest online auction companies to further supplement its proprietary database of foreclosures, bank-owned properties, MLS listings, auctions and short sales. The partners include Auction.com, Hubzu, RealtyBid, ServiceLink and Williams & Williams. These partnerships give RealtyTrac users access to the largest aggregation of online foreclosure auction properties anywhere. The RealtyTrac database provides instant access to individual property information including the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, lot size, year built, owner information, property debt, sales/tax history, foreclosure status and other relevant investor-focused data. Advanced search and analysis tools allow users to search geographically and estimate a property’s profit potential, using estimated property values from ATTOM and Zillow, and generating a “Deal-o-Meter” rating of Poor, Good, or Great, depending on the property’s potential gross profitability. This estimated gross ROI rating lets buyers understand the opportunity and risk associated with each property and compare properties within states, counties, cities, zip codes and even neighborhoods. Financing for real estate investments is different from typical mortgage lending and can include alternative options such as short-term bridge loans, long-term rental financing and lending for construction and multi-family properties. To help its users finance their foreclosure purchases, RealtyTrac has also partnered with several lenders, including Certain Lending, Foundation/CREF and RCN Capital, that specialize in real estate investment financing for fix-and-flip as well as single-family/multi-family rental property purchase, repair and renovation. The company also plans to introduce training and coaching programs and educational content for aspiring investors and agents who are interested in learning more about real estate investing and buying or selling distressed properties. “We’ve also seen an uptick in real estate agents using our services. Some are working with investors, some are investors themselves, and others are using our site to locate distressed homeowners who would benefit from selling their home rather than losing it to foreclosure,” Antebian added. “So, we’re also introducing a suite of agent products that will help real estate professionals connect with potential buyers and sellers and learn how to navigate the sometimes choppy waters of the foreclosure market.” As part of its launch, RealtyTrac announced a special introductory subscription price of $19.95 per month, down from its regular rate of $49.95. About RealtyTrac Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest database of foreclosure property information in the U.S. in addition to other real estate and mortgage data used by real estate investors and agents to find, analyze and invest in residential and commercial distressed properties. RealtyTrac is owned and operated by ATTOM Data Solutions, a leading provider of publicly recorded tax, deed, mortgage and foreclosure data as well as proprietary neighborhood and parcel-level risk data for more than 150 million U.S. properties. For more information, visit www.RealtyTrac.com.

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Simplify Data Management, Improve Data Quality and Drive Business Value with ATTOM Cloud; Start with a 30-day FREE Trial ATTOM, curator of the nation’s premier property database, announced the launch of ATTOM Cloud, a new cloud-based platform that provides immediate access to high-quality curated property data. ATTOM Cloud allows customers to focus more time on extracting value from property data and less on complex data management processes and infrastructure. Getting started with ATTOM Cloud takes just minutes. Once implemented, ATTOM Cloud takes care of all data updates, so customers can stay focused on their product or analytic projects. Built-in flexibility provides for quick iteration and customer feedback, helping customers to drive additional revenue and lower costs. Start your free trial of ATTOM Cloud “Unlocking the power of data requires accessing it quickly and managing it well, which is becoming increasingly difficult,” said chief technology officer Todd Teta with ATTOM. “In our space, many competitors promise immediate and consistent access to property data, but we’re doing more than that – we’re actually delivering it. We developed ATTOM Cloud to give our customers immediate access to data, streamed directly from our data warehouse in a platform that can grow with their needs.” ATTOM customers have the option of registering for a 30-day, limited trial of ATTOM Cloud, which includes five pre-selected geographies. The registration process takes less than five minutes to complete, compared to a process that can take weeks or days with competitors – an issue ATTOM recognized and quickly addressed with the development and release of ATTOM Cloud. Once connected, ATTOM continuously administers and updates the data for customers, eliminating any need for data loading, updating, or management on the customers’ part. Click here to view ATTOM’s Table of Data Elements ATTOM Cloud complements traditional delivery models, such as flat files and APIs that require data mapping or software integration in order to use. It supports standard interfaces for connecting to data, so existing tools and technologies can be used. ATTOM Cloud also includes robust data discovery features and a support ecosystem that helps customers find, evaluate and use the data. “ATTOM Cloud is the extensible platform of choice on which to base your new real estate data project as it can be tailored to meet your needs, whether your application is supporting a website or serving as the hub of a data science project,” said chief data officer Richard Sawicky with ATTOM. “The fundamental principle of our design is to ensure that customers have access to the most current and accurate data available.” Elevate and Evolve with ATTOM Cloud ATTOM Cloud delivers large volumes of property data, that is immediate, comprehensive, focused, simple and convenient. ATTOM Cloud provides complete transparency to property data and will shape the future of data consumption. Learn more about how ATTOM Cloud can benefit your business, register for the ATTOM Cloud Webinar 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 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, and more. Also, introducing our latest solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management – ATTOM Cloud.

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A new resource from Dwellsy highlights the cities that best suit renters’ needs Dwellsy published its 2021 ranking of best cities in America for renters. Taking into consideration a number of factors such as rent prices, availability, employment, schools and health we ranked over 350 metropolitan areas on their attractiveness for renters. At Dwellsy, we know there is a city and a great rental home out there for every renter, but we wanted to find out which cities were the most renter-friendly of all. In order to start creating our list, we crunched data sets including rent prices, healthcare availability, employment/unemployment and many more. Then, we also looked at several different qualitative factors, like local arts and food scenes. This combination of different factors allowed us to consider cities holistically, much like a renter looking for a place might do. “Most lists of best places to live in America are written from the perspective of home buyers; we wanted to create a ranking that takes into consideration the unique preferences and needs of renters.” Jonas Bordo, CEO and Co-Founder of Dwellsy. By weighing all these variables, we are proud to present a list of cities that scored well overall: “The Top Cities for Renters in 2021.” With high-quality schools, affordable rentals, and low unemployment rates, it is no surprise that the Midwest stood out as one of the best regions in America to be a renter. In fact, all of our top three cities are located in this region: Fargo, ND, Sioux Falls, SD, and Lincoln, Nebraska. With its three universities and thriving cultural scene, Fargo came in as our top city for renters in America. Fargo is often cited as one of the best job markets and one of the best cities for starting a career. Lincoln, number two on our list, has a remarkably low unemployment rate at only 3.3% and many career opportunities in healthcare. At number three, Sioux Falls stands out as one of the healthiest cities in America and even has a thriving local poetry scene. For a closer look at the top cities and why each made the list, take a look at the Top 10 Small Cities for Renters. Free Listing with DwellsyDwellsy’s primary goal is to make renting easier on both renters and property managers. We believe that people should be able to see all available home rentals in one central place, where they can narrow down their search results to homes that are specific to their wants and needs. It is important to our mission that landlords and property owners can list on our site for free because it allows renters to avoid the hassle of navigating through irrelevant paid listings and it allows every landlord to place every listing on Dwellsy. Our Partners Are Key to Our SuccessPartnerships with industry property management software companies such as Buildium, AppFolio, Entrata and Yardi, have enabled Dwellsy onboard verifiable direct feeds quickly and easily. Additionally, multifamily leaders like Gables, Bozzuto, Equity, Highmark and many others have helped to make our platform the largest in the nation, with over 10 million listings available nationwide. The more we continue to grow and expand, the better we are able to serve renter and property owners, increasing liquidity in what has historically been a highly fragmented market. About DwellsyDwellsy is a home rental platform where renters can find houses, townhomes, condos, and apartments—for rent. Dwellsy is different from other sites because we don’t charge any listing fees, lease fees, nor lead fees. None. Dwellsy offers the benefit of organic search results that put the renter front and center. Dwellsy is built for Renters. To find your next apartment or house for rent visit https://dwellsy.com.

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Multifamily Borrowers Now Eligible for Forbearance through September 30, 2021 To continue to support renters in multifamily units and Fannie Mae-financed multifamily property owners experiencing financial difficulties as COVID-19 persists, Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) announced the extension of its multifamily COVID-19 forbearance program through September 30, 2021. The program, which requires landlords to suspend all evictions for renters unable to pay rent during the forbearance period, was formerly set to expire on June 30, 2021. For any Fannie Mae-financed multifamily properties with a new or modified forbearance plan as the result of a financial hardship due to COVID-19, the property owner must inform tenants in writing about tenant protections available during the property owner’s forbearance and repayment periods. In addition, the borrower is required to provide tenant protections, which include: Allow the tenant flexibility to repay back rent over time and not in a lump sum; Not charge the tenant late fees or penalties for non-payment of rent; and Give the tenant at least a 30-day notice to vacate. “Fannie Mae remains committed to supporting renters and multifamily property owners as COVID-19 continues to financially impact many people in the United States,” said Michele Evans, Executive Vice President and Head of Multifamily. “By extending the forbearance program for Fannie Mae multifamily borrowers, we are also extending essential protections and flexibilities for renters, which will help keep people in their apartments as the economy continues to improve.” Here to HelpSince March 2020, Fannie Mae has taken a number of actions to help renters facing financial hardship due to COVID-19, including extending eviction protections to multifamily renters when the property owner received a forbearance and announcing a new Renters Resource Finder tool. These and the many other resources, including KnowYourOptions.com, that we make available are part of our ongoing Here to Help education effort, aimed at helping homeowners and renters impacted by COVID-19 understand the options available to them. For renters, KnowYourOptions.com provides straightforward information to understand rent relief and assistance options and to understand the available tenant protections. Renters in a multifamily property financed by Fannie Mae also have access to the Disaster Response Network, which offers free assistance from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified housing counselors who can help navigate financial challenges caused by COVID-19, such as information and guidance on accessing federal and state housing assistance, unemployment benefits, nutritional assistance, and other available programs. The Disaster Response Network can be accessed from the Renters Resource Finder on KnowYourOptions.com, or by calling 877-833-1746. About Fannie MaeFannie Mae helps make the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and affordable rental housing possible for millions of people in America. We partner with lenders to create housing opportunities for families across the country. We are driving positive changes in housing finance to make the home buying process easier, while reducing costs and risk. To learn more, visit:fanniemae.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Blog

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CoreLogic Home Price Index recorded a 13% annual gain, the highest since February 2006 Limited inventories discourage potential sellers, further exacerbating inventory and affordability challenges CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, released the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for April 2021. Sparse inventory and high demand continues to place upward pressure on home prices, creating challenges across generations as buyer preferences shift. Younger millennials continue to enter the market in droves while older millennials look to upgrade and upsize their homes. In a recent CoreLogic consumer survey, the need for more space was noted as the top driver (64%) for demand among these cohorts. The increased competition among buyers may cause a ripple effect and create affordability challenges for baby boomers interested in downsizing or relocating. Notably, 72% of this cohort list the desire for a new location as the main reason for wanting to purchase a new home. However, in response to rising prices, baby boomers — who own 54% of the nation’s homes — may wait to sell, creating further inventory pressures for older millennials seeking move up-purchases. “As older homeowners become more comfortable with listing their homes, they are faced with the reality that if they sell, they may get a smaller home for the same price as what they already have,” said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Rather than decreasing their financial burden and cashing out equity to support their retirement, baby boomers may choose to stay put — which could exacerbate inventory challenges.” Top Takeaways: Nationally, home prices increased 13% in April 2021, compared with April 2020. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 2.1% compared to March 2021. Appreciation of detached properties (14.7%) was more than double that of attached properties (7.2%) in April as prospective buyers continue to seek out more space. Home prices are projected to increase 2.8% by April 2022, as affordability and supply challenges drive potential buyers out of the market, causing a slowdown in home price growth. In April, home prices rose sharply in the west with Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, experiencing the highest year-over-year increase at 31.4%. Boise City, Idaho, ranked second with a year-over-year increase of 28.6%. At the state level, Idaho and Arizona continued to have the strongest price growth at 27.2% and 20.4%, respectively. South Dakota also had a 19.3% year-over-year increase as new home buyers seek out more affordable options, space and low property taxes. “Baby boomers are staying in their homes longer, slowing the pace with which existing homes come on the for-sale market,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Owner occupants today have been in their homes for a median of 13 years, about 50% longer than the previous generation.” About CoreLogic CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), the leading provider of property insights and solutions, promotes a healthy housing market and thriving communities. Through its enhanced property data solutions, services and technologies, CoreLogic enables real estate professionals, financial institutions, insurance carriers, government agencies and other housing market participants to help millions of people find, buy and protect their homes. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.