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Opteon Announces Acquisition of Northeastern Appraisal Associates

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Acquisition strengthens leading nationwide Appraisal Management Company’s footprint in Northeast Opteon, a leading international provider of valuation, advisory, and property services, has announced its acquisition of Northeastern Appraisal Associates Residential (NEA), a Buffalo, New York-based appraisal management company (AMC) and staff appraisal firm. This partnership expands Opteon’s presence in the Northeast, strengthening its nationwide service offerings and faster turn times in the fourth largest US real estate market. Northeastern Appraisal Associates Residential has been delivering high-quality appraisal reports to the New York community since its inception in 1972. NEA has top-tier staff and panel appraisers throughout the New York region, servicing some of the nation’s top mortgage lenders and originators. The partnership will also provide great new benefits for current NEA clients, such as extended business hours, a multi-level 200-point QC process, and coverage in all 50 states with 13,000+ panel and 250+ staff appraisers. “We have always focused on providing high-quality appraisals to our clients. With the market rapidly changing in recent years, we must remain at the forefront of change to continue providing such excellent service. Partnering with Opteon guarantees we are able to provide our clients with an industry-leading experience,” said Salvatore Vacanti, Vice President of Operations for NEA. Salvatore will continue to lead the appraisal team as Operations Manager of New York, while working with the AMC division to seamlessly integrate with our clients. “Northeastern Appraisal Associates Residential has always strived to innovate and lead within the industry. We do so by keeping the appraiser at the center of everything we do. The Opteon vision of empowering appraisers through technology aligns with our goals, and we’re excited to bring this partnership to our clients,” added Robert Vacanti, President of NEA. Robert will be joining the Growth and Expansion team with Opteon USA to help grow national clients. Founded in Australia in 2005, Opteon developed innovative technology that dramatically decreased turn times and revision rates. In Australia and New Zealand, Opteon delivers the majority of appraisal reports within 2 days, with less than a 1% rework rate. By partnering with world-class appraisal firms like NEA, Opteon aims to bring this technology to the United States. “Our technology works hand-in-hand with appraisers. By equipping exceptional staff appraisers with our technology, Opteon streamlines the appraisal process. Northeastern Appraisal Associates Residential is comprised of an incredible team that will be able to implement our technology across the Northeastern US,” said Chris Knight, Group CEO of Opteon. Opteon has experienced substantial growth since the company’s expansion into the US in 2019 and is one of the fastest-growing nationwide appraisal firms. This is the fourth acquisition Opteon has made in the last 12 months. Through these strategic acquisitions, Opteon has built a robust national Staff Appraiser model, allowing Opteon to utilize innovative technology to deliver drastically shorter turn times across the US. Together, Opteon’s family of brands is bringing innovation and an elevated level of service to the industry. About Opteon Opteon is an international provider of valuation, advisory, and property services through innovative software solutions. With the company’s expansion into the US in 2019, Opteon has invested heavily in its technology to reduce turn times, increase quality, and minimize human error without eliminating human expertise. Opteon’s US sector is one of the fastest-growing nationwide appraisal firms and consists of more than 400 employees. Opteon was founded in 2005 and is recognized as the largest independent valuation and property services firm in Australia and New Zealand. CONTACT: Courtney Ray, EVP, Marketing & Communications, 248.255.2022, Courtney.ray@opteonusa.com

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WORD OF THE DAY: Imprest

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[IM-prest] Part of speech: Noun Origin: Italian, mid-16th century Definition: A fund used by a business for small items of expenditure and restored to a fixed amount periodically; a sum of money advanced to a person for a particular purpose. Examples of Imprest in a sentence “The business has a specific imprest fund.” “Charlotte was clear that she was offering her friend an imprest for her bills.” About Imprest This term stems from the earlier phrase “in prest,” meaning “as a loan,” likely influenced by the Italian or medieval Latin “imprestare,” meaning “lend.” Did you Know? “Imprest” is pronounced exactly like another, more common word in the American lexicon: impressed. But they have two very different meanings — while an “imprest” is related to loans and business funds, “impressed” means either “feeling or showing admiration or respect for someone or something” or “applied to something using pressure,” depending on the context.

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Redfin Reports Asking Prices Come Down from All-Time High

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A record-high share of home sellers are dropping their prices after this month’s historic mortgage-rate hike put a damper on homebuyer activity More and more, home sellers are ceding to the mounting pressure on affordability posed by this month’s rapid mortgage-rate hike, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The median asking price of newly-listed homes for sale is down 1.5% from the all-time high it reached in the spring, and a record-high share of sellers dropped their asking price during the four-week period ending June 26. Pending sales continued to fall, posting their largest decline since May 2020, but there are signs that early-stage homebuyer demand is starting to level off. “Data on home-tours, offers and mortgage purchase applications suggest that homebuyers have noticed the shift in power and are no longer leaving the market in droves,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Buyers coming back will provide support to the housing market, but between now and the end of year I think the power will continue to shift towards buyers, resulting in mild price declines from month to month.” “Homebuyers are worried about interest rates, having to go back to the office, getting laid off, and wondering if they can get a better deal by waiting out the market,” said Redfin Seattle-area real estate agent Caroline Loudenback. “On the other side, sellers are adjusting to this new reality and learning that sometimes there’s not much they can do to increase buyer interest. Sometimes price isn’t even the reason a home is sitting on the market without selling—some more remote areas that were super popular during the pandemic are now being overlooked as buyers reconsider long commutes with high gas prices. It’s a tricky market and you have to pay close attention to your local sales and listings to understand what’s happening.” Leading indicators of homebuying activity: For the week ending June 30, 30-year mortgage rates fell slightly to 5.7%. Fewer people searched for “homes for sale” on Google—searches during the week ending June 25 were down 7% from a year earlier. The seasonally-adjusted Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index—a measure of requests for home tours and other home-buying services from Redfin agents—was down 15% year over year during the week ending June 26, but up 7 points from the previous week. Touring activity as of June 26 fell 3% from the start of the year, compared to a 24% increase at this time last year, according to home tour technology company ShowingTime. Mortgage purchase applications were down 24% from a year earlier, while the seasonally-adjusted index was up 0.1% week over week during the week ending June 17. Key housing market takeaways for 400+ U.S. metro areas: Unless otherwise noted, this data covers the four-week period ending June 26. Redfin’s weekly housing market data goes back through 2015. The median home sale price was up 14% year over year to a record $399,249. The median asking price of newly listed homes increased 15% year over year to $405,547, but was down 1.5% from the all-time high set during the four-week period ending May 22. The monthly mortgage payment on the median asking price home increased to $2,459 at the current 5.7% mortgage rate, but is down slightly from the peak of $2,494 during the four-week period ending June 12. This was up 45% from $1,694 a year earlier, when mortgage rates were 2.98%. Pending home sales were down 13% year over year, the largest decline since May 2020. New listings of homes for sale were down 7% from a year earlier. Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 8% year over year—the smallest decline since March 2020. 46% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, down from 49% a year earlier. 32% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, down from 36% a year earlier. Homes that sold were on the market for a median of 17 days, down from 18 days a year earlier and up slightly from the record low of 15 days set in May and early June. 54% of homes sold above list price, up from 53% a year earlier. This measure peaked in mid-May and has declined 2.5 points since then. Last year it peaked in mid-July. On average, 6.5% of homes for sale each week had a price drop, a record high as far back as the data goes, through the beginning of 2015. The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, declined to 102.2%. In other words, the average home sold for 2.2% above its asking price. This was up from 102.1% a year earlier. To view the full report, including charts and methodology, please visit:https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-asking-prices-decline/

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WORD OF THE DAY: Pleonasm

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[PLEE-ə-naz-əm] Part of speech: noun Origin: Greek, mid-16th century Definition: The use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning (e.g. see with one’s eyes), either as a fault of style or for emphasis. Examples of Pleonasm in a sentence “I enjoyed the book despite the author’s tendency toward pleonasm.” “Karen edited her papers carefully to cut out all pleonasm.” About Pleonasm Pleonasm originated in Greek by way of Latin — specifically from the Greek words “pleonasmos” and “pleonazein,” which mean to “be superfluous.” Did you Know? Pleonasm can be described by a more flowery term: purple prose. Purple prose is extravagant writing that uses more words than necessary to convey meaning. Sometimes intentionally, it often calls attention to the writing style rather than the topic at hand.

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RISING PRICES AND MORTGAGE RATES MAKE HOMEOWNERSHIP UNAFFORDABLE ACROSS MOST OF THE U.S.

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Nearly One-Third of Average Wages Required for Major Home-Ownership Expenses During Second Quarter of 2022; Portion of Wages Consumed by Home Ownership Rises at Fastest Pace This Century; Historic Affordability Plummets to 15-Year Low as Median Home Price Hits $349,000 and Mortgage Rates Top 5 percent ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, released its second-quarter 2022 U.S. Home Affordability Report, showing that median-priced single-family homes and condos are less affordable in the second quarter of 2022 compared to historical averages in 97 percent of counties across the nation with enough data to analyze. That was up from 69 percent of counties that were historically less affordable in the second quarter of 2021, to the highest point since 2007, just before the housing market crashed during the Great Recession of the late 2000s. The report also shows that the portion of average wages nationwide required for major home-ownership expenses has risen this quarter to 31.5 percent as the median price of a single-family home has hit a new high of $349,000 and 30-year mortgage rates have shot up above 5 percent. The percentage of average wages consumed by those expenses has risen at the fastest quarterly and annual pace since at least 2000. “Extraordinarily low levels of homes for sale combined with strong demand have caused home prices to soar over the last few years,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “But homes remained relatively affordable due to historically low mortgage rates and rising wages. With interest rates almost doubling, homebuyers are faced with monthly mortgage payments that are between 40 and 50 percent higher than they were a year ago – payments that many prospective buyers simply can’t afford.” The report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to meet major monthly home ownership expenses — including mortgage, property taxes and insurance — on a median-priced single-family home, assuming a 20 percent down payment and a 28 percent maximum “front-end” debt-to-income ratio. That required income was then compared to annualized average weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to historical levels, median home prices in 560 of the 575 counties analyzed in the second quarter of 2022 are less affordable than in the past. The latest number is up from 459 of the same group of counties in the first quarter of 2022, 397 in the second quarter of 2021 and just 251, or less than half, two years ago. That increase has continued as the median national home price has spiked 16 percent over the past year while average annual wages across the country have grown just 6 percent. Major ownership costs on median-priced single-family homes and condos around the U.S. now require more than 28 percent of the average $67,587 wage in the U.S. – a ceiling considered affordable by common lending standards. The current level of 31.5 percent stands at the highest point since the second quarter of 2007 and is up from 26 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and 23.9 percent in the second quarter of last year. Both increases mark the largest jumps since at least 2000. Affording a home across the nation has gotten significantly tougher in recent months at a time when the U.S. housing market has roared ahead for the 11th straight year but also faces notable headwinds that could slow it down. One major force remains: home prices have continued to soar in 2022 as a large cohort of homebuyers continues chasing an extremely small supply of properties for sale. Elevated demand has helped push the national median home price up over the past year at more than double the pace of wage growth. But as mortgage rates have steadily climbed this year from just above 3 percent to near 6 percent for a 30-year loan, costs have escalated for buyers. Higher interest rates, growing inflation, soaring fuel costs and a declining stock market all threaten the housing market, which could already be showing signs of strain – May marked the fifth consecutive month of lower existing home sales than the prior month. As historic affordability continues to decline, major home-ownership expenses on typical homes are now unaffordable to average local wage earners during the second quarter of 2022 in 388, or 67 percent, of the 575 counties in the report, based on the 28-percent guideline. The largest populated counties that are unaffordable are Los Angeles County, CA; Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ; San Diego County, CA; Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) and Kings County (Brooklyn), NY. The most populous of the 187 counties where major expenses on median-priced homes remain affordable for average local workers in the second quarter of 2022 are Cook County (Chicago), IL; Harris County (Houston), TX; Philadelphia County, PA; Franklin County (Columbus), OH, and Hennepin County (Minneapolis), MN. Home prices continue to rise at least 10 percent annually in two-thirds of country Median single-family home and condo prices in the second quarter of 2022 are up by at least 10 percent over the second quarter of 2021 in 373, or 65 percent, of the 575 counties included in the report. Data was analyzed for counties with a population of at least 100,000 and at least 50 single-family home and condo sales in the second quarter of 2022. Among the 47 counties in the report with a population of at least 1 million, the biggest year-over-year gains in median sales prices during the second quarter of 2022 are in Collin County (Plano), TX (up 28 percent); Hillsborough County (Tampa), FL (up 27 percent); Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ (up 25 percent); Clark County (Las Vegas), NV (up 24 percent) and Salt Lake County (Salt Lake City), UT (up 24 percent). Counties with a population of at least 1 million where median prices have gone up the least or decreased, year-over-year, during the second quarter of 2022 are Oakland County, MI (outside Detroit) (down 2 percent);

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S&P CORELOGIC CASE-SHILLER INDEX REPORTS ANNUAL HOME PRICE GAIN OF 20.4%

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S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. Data released for April 2022 show that home prices continue to increase across the U.S. More than 27 years of history are available for the data series and can be accessed in full by going to https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/index-family/indicators/sp-corelogic-case-shiller/. YEAR-OVER-YEAR The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 20.4% annual gain in April, down from 20.6% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 19.7%, up from 19.5% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 21.2% year-over-year gain, up from 21.1% in the previous month. Tampa, Miami, and Phoenix reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in April. Tampa led the way with a 35.8% year-over-year price increase, followed by Miami with a 33.3% increase, and Phoenix with a 31.3% increase. Nine of the 20 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending April 2022 versus the year ending March 2022.  MONTH-OVER-MONTH Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a 2.1% month-over-month increase in April, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted increases of 2.2% and 2.3%, respectively. After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a month-over-month increase of 1.5%, and the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.8%. In April, all 20 cities reported increases before and after seasonal adjustments. ANALYSIS “April 2022 showed initial (although inconsistent) signs of a deceleration in the growth rate of U.S. home prices,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI. “The National Composite Index rose by 20.4% for the 12 months ended April 2022; this represents a slight deceleration from March’s 20.6% reading. The 10- and 20-City Composites were up 19.7% and 21.2%, respectively, modestly ahead of their gains in March. Despite the deceleration of the National Composite and the modest acceleration for the 10- and 20-City Composites, these growth rates are extremely strong by historical standards – at or above the 99th percentile in all three cases. “We continue to observe very broad strength in the housing market, as all 20 cities notched double-digit price increases for the 12 months ended in April. April’s price increase ranked in the top quintile of historical experience for every city, and in the top decile for 19 of them. In contrast with the past five months, when prices in most cities accelerated, in April only nine cities saw prices rise faster than they had done in March. There’s a regional pattern among the nine, as all five cities in our South composite (Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, and Tampa) are represented there.  “Tampa (+35.8%) was the fastest growing city for the second consecutive month, with Miami (+33.3%) and long-time leader Phoenix (+31.3%) in second and third positions. Prices were strongest in the South (+30.6%) and Southeast (+30.5%). Even the comparatively weak Midwest (+13.8%) and Northeast (+14.0%) showed double-digit gains. “We noted last month that mortgage financing has become more expensive as the Federal Reserve ratchets up interest rates, a process that had only just begun when April data were gathered. A more-challenging macroeconomic environment may not support extraordinary home price growth for much longer.” For more information about S&P Dow Jones Indices, please visit https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/.

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