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Lenders will soon be able to “quickly and accurately” estimate property taxes during the residential real estate loan application process, thanks to a new offering from Black Knight Financial Services. …read more

From:: Real Estate Wire

By Susanne Dwyer

Single-family home construction is currently lacking in 80 percent of measured metro areas despite steady job creation. The low activity is creating a housing shortage crisis that is curtailing affordability and threatening to hold back prospective buyers in many of the country’s largest cities, according to new reseNARarch from the National Association of REALTORS®.

NAR’s study reviewed new home construction relative to job gains over a three-year period (2013-2015) in 171 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) throughout the U.S. to determine the markets with the greatest shortage of single-family housing starts. The findings reveal that single-family construction is startlingly underperforming in most of the U.S., with markets in the West making up half of the top 10 areas with the largest deficit of newly built homes.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says a large swath of the country continues to be plagued by inventory shortages exasperated by critically low homebuilding activity.

“Inadequate single-family home construction since the Great Recession has had a detrimental impact on the housing market by accelerating price growth and making it very difficult for prospective buyers to find an affordable home – especially young adults,” he says. “Without the expected pick-up in building as job gains rose in recent years, new and existing inventory has shrunk, prices have shot up and affordability has eroded despite mortgage rates at or near historic lows.”

NAR analyzed employment growth in relation to single-family housing starts in the three-year period from 2012 through 2015. Historically, the average ratio for the annual change in total jobs to permits is 1.6 for single-family homes. The research found that 80 percent of measured markets had a ratio above 1.6, which indicates inadequate new construction in most of the country. The average ratio for areas examined was 3.4.

Using each metro area’s jobs-to-permits ratio, NAR then calculated the amount of permits needed in each metro area to balance the ratio back to its historical average of 1.6. The higher the number of permits required, the more severe the shortage was in each market.

The top 10 metro areas with the biggest need for more single-family housing starts to get back to the historical average ratio are:

• New York (218,541 permits required)
• Dallas (132,482 permits required)
• San Francisco (127,412 permits required)
• Miami (118,937 permits required)
• Chicago (94,457 permits required)
• Atlanta (93,627 permits required)
• Seattle (73,135 permits required)
• San Jose, California (69,042 permits required)
• Denver (67,403 permits required)
• San Diego (55,825 permits required)

According to Yun, most of the metro areas with the biggest need for increased construction have strong appetites for buying, home-price growth that outpaces incomes and common instances where homes sell very quickly. Their healthy job markets continue to attract an influx of potential homeowners, only fueling the need for more housing.

“Although a few small cities with high ratios did not make the national rank for absolute permit shortages, their supply shortages are still meaningful at the local level and could become a bigger issue if job gains hold steady and the current pace of construction remains at its nearly non-existent level,” adds Yun.

Single-family housing starts are seen as …read more

From:: Finance and Economy

By Susanne Dwyer

Single-family home construction is currently lacking in 80 percent of measured metro areas despite steady job creation. The low activity is creating a housing shortage crisis that is curtailing affordability and threatening to hold back prospective buyers in many of the country’s largest cities, according to new reseNARarch from the National Association of REALTORS®.

NAR’s study reviewed new home construction relative to job gains over a three-year period (2013-2015) in 171 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) throughout the U.S. to determine the markets with the greatest shortage of single-family housing starts. The findings reveal that single-family construction is startlingly underperforming in most of the U.S., with markets in the West making up half of the top 10 areas with the largest deficit of newly built homes.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says a large swath of the country continues to be plagued by inventory shortages exasperated by critically low homebuilding activity.

“Inadequate single-family home construction since the Great Recession has had a detrimental impact on the housing market by accelerating price growth and making it very difficult for prospective buyers to find an affordable home – especially young adults,” he says. “Without the expected pick-up in building as job gains rose in recent years, new and existing inventory has shrunk, prices have shot up and affordability has eroded despite mortgage rates at or near historic lows.”

NAR analyzed employment growth in relation to single-family housing starts in the three-year period from 2012 through 2015. Historically, the average ratio for the annual change in total jobs to permits is 1.6 for single-family homes. The research found that 80 percent of measured markets had a ratio above 1.6, which indicates inadequate new construction in most of the country. The average ratio for areas examined was 3.4.

Using each metro area’s jobs-to-permits ratio, NAR then calculated the amount of permits needed in each metro area to balance the ratio back to its historical average of 1.6. The higher the number of permits required, the more severe the shortage was in each market.

The top 10 metro areas with the biggest need for more single-family housing starts to get back to the historical average ratio are:

• New York (218,541 permits required)
• Dallas (132,482 permits required)
• San Francisco (127,412 permits required)
• Miami (118,937 permits required)
• Chicago (94,457 permits required)
• Atlanta (93,627 permits required)
• Seattle (73,135 permits required)
• San Jose, California (69,042 permits required)
• Denver (67,403 permits required)
• San Diego (55,825 permits required)

According to Yun, most of the metro areas with the biggest need for increased construction have strong appetites for buying, home-price growth that outpaces incomes and common instances where homes sell very quickly. Their healthy job markets continue to attract an influx of potential homeowners, only fueling the need for more housing.

“Although a few small cities with high ratios did not make the national rank for absolute permit shortages, their supply shortages are still meaningful at the local level and could become a bigger issue if job gains hold steady and the current pace of construction remains at its nearly non-existent level,” adds Yun.

Single-family housing starts are seen as …read more

From:: Real Estate News