Tag Archive for: real estate

Louisiana in Top Tier of States Leading Housing Recovery

NAHB Spring Construction Webinar Forecasts Strong Housing Growth

When comparing statistics in housing trends, the National Association of Home Builders place Louisiana in the top tier of states leading housing recovery nationwide.  The top states include Montana, North Dakota, and Utah, and the 2nd tier of states include Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Alaska.  There are several factors that contribute to Louisiana’s (and other states’) housing recovery.  Some states, such as the top 3 states of Montana,2-Woodstone, Lot 25 Exterior North Dakota, and Utah did not have as big of housing bubbles as other states.  Therefore, their “fall” during the Recession was not as great, so their housing recovery was faster and better.  States like Texas and Louisiana are mainly energy sector states, so the Recession did not cut as deeply into employment and statewide income as other states.  Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has consistently held one of the highest rankings in housing recovery since the beginning of 2015 which helps with Louisiana’s housing statistics.

“The basic principle remains the same,” said NAHB Senior Economist Robert Denk. “A strong economy – whether helped, hindered or unaffected by the energy economy – will be a key factor driving housing recoveries going forward.”

Economists predict that by the end of 2017, the top tier states will have a housing recovery of 102% of normal (based on statistics pulled of the housing numbers during the last “normal” housing market pre-Recession).  The bottom tier states will have recovered to just 65% of where they were before the Recession.  The reason for the predicted recovery numbers in 2017 is based on the underlying housing market fundamentals of population and insulation-1job growth which are typical in driving supply and demand in real estate.  The cycles of “boom and bust” are mostly over according to Denk.

“A common theme has emerged,” said Denk. “The progress of market recovery is no longer a function of the boom-and-bust cycle marked by price bubbles, excess supply and foreclosures. The key driver of the housing recovery is now back to the underlying housing market fundamentals of population and job growth.”

Factors that will help builders and sellers to sell their new homes for sale and homes for sale are a predicted increase in household formation by home buyers that were previously unable to secure a mortgage, stabilized home pricing that now offers tiers of homes for sale available and affordable to purchase, less foreclosures, rising employment and the first increase in wages in over 8 years, and home prices that are in line with incomes and rents making it an easier transition from renting to owning.

If you are a new home buyer who is interested in building your own custom, dream home in West St. Tammany Parish, Ron Lee Homes in Covington, Louisiana, offers full-service home building strategies such as custom home design, engineered floorplans, complete “end-to-end” home construction supervised by Ron Lee, financing and insurance assistance, and a hands-on approach to building new, custom homes in the Greater New Orleans area.  For More Information, Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

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Real Estate Trends in April Showing Growth and Good News

With the 22.6% increase of single-family home construction starts compared to the previous month and year of March, 2015, real estate nationwide has taken a very positive step forward.  In addition to a substantial increase in new home starts, there is good and bad news when it comes to new homes being built and put up for sale in the real estate market.  The bad news is that builders are finding it difficult to procure land to build new homes, as1-Lot 34 Autumn Creek Front Exterior well as the labor required to start and complete a new home project in a timely manner.  On the flip side, that is also good news in that there are now a tremendous amount of construction jobs available for those trained and experienced in the construction industry.

The lack of land and lots to build also increases the new home buyers’ demand across the entire United States, making it so that builders are building new homes “on demand” for prospective homeowners.  Now home buyers are waiting on builders to supply new homes to buy whereas just a few years ago, it was builders waiting on home buyers to be able to buy a 1.5 years’ supply of new homes.

Existing home inventory currently in the market is also really tight according to the National Association of 17-Lot 207 Fully Bricked Back PatioRealtors.  Right now, existing home inventory is at just a 4.5 month supply – really good news for sellers and Realtors, but not such good news for home buyers.  However, existing home sales increased 5.1% in March, despite the dearth of homes available to buy.

If home buyers are in the market for a new home and can afford to wait to be able to build their dream home, they may consider buying a new custom home from local builder Ron Lee Homes in St. Tammany Parish.  Custom homes built by this award winning builder are “worth the wait,” and by using Ron Lee Homes, buyers get full-service attention on the new custom home building process.  Ron Lee Homes designs floorplans, builds new custom homes, assists with financing, and literally walks home buyers through the home building process from start to finish.  So, if you would like to Consult with a Custom Home Builders in West St. Tammany Parish, Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

 

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Discover the Value of Homeownership in America

The value of homeownership has just been assigned a number based on information regarding homeowners in 2013 in the United State.  Owning your own home in America can save $100 billion in tax savings and deductions. Statistics showed that only approximately 11.4% of Americans who had a mortgage by owning a home that they occupied in 2013 did not take advantage of being a homeowner by deducting the mortgage interest that they paid from their federal taxes according to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and National Association of Home2-54 Maison du Lac Exterior 2 Builders (NAHB) analysis.

It cannot be emphasized enough the huge advantages of becoming a home owner in today’s economy.  In addition to the $296.2 billion that was claimed on Americans’ taxes, there was also the amount of $174.3 billion in real estate taxes that were claimed on taxes as well. Overall, people who owned homes in the U.S. in 2013 were able to trim their tax bills by over $100 billion dollars.  Mortgage interest deductions accounted for $72.4 billion in savings on taxes while real estate taxes equaled $30.2 billion.

These numbers don’t include individual state programs for making improvements and installing energy efficient, “green” products in their homes.  These deductions are specialized each year by both the state and federal government and typically have timelines and requirements on the amount of money that can be deducted.  The bottom line is that if you own your own home, you have a significantly better chance of saving money on certain 1-Lot 52 Windermere Remodel Overviewhome improvements than if you were renting your home.

Another advantage to owning your own home is that on-time mortgage payments will vastly improve your credit.  Just by owning real estate, your credit score will improve as soon you close on your home and log your first mortgage payment.  With better credit, you can expand your opportunities for loans and investments, thereby creating even better credit for yourself and your family.  As you pay more and more principle on your mortgage payments, you will see your home equity rise as well.  You can use an equity line of credit to make improvements to your home (and get those tax deductions!) which also increases your home’s value.  Real estate can be one of your greatest assets that continually increases in value, appreciation, equity, and opportunity if it is handled correctly as one of your greatest investments.  So, what are you waiting for – discover the possibilities of becoming a homeowner today!

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Home Buyers Seeing Upward Trends in Real Estate

During the first month of the year 2016, home buyers have a lot to be excited about when considering buying a new home for sale.  Home pricing, consumer confidence, and home construction starts and permits are all up!  The housing market has been seeing a steady incline since it bottomed out between 2009 and 2011.  With sharp, record-breaking price increases in 2012 and 2013, the housing market almost seemed to be expanding too fast for consumer demand, consumer affordability, and consumer credit.  However, home pricing trends have “flattened” in 2014 and 2015 creating stability in the real estate market.

During the month of October, 2015, home prices rose at 6% and 11% depending on which report buyers were 028seeing.  The Case Shiller (CS) National Home Price Index released by S&P Dow Jones Indices showed an 11% increase in October while the more conservative Home Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 6%.  Either way, home pricing has stabilized and is on the upswing which is good for both buyers (a smart investment) and sellers.

Meanwhile, the vote of confidence from consumers showed an increase of approximately 4 points in December after 2 months of declining numbers.  The Consumer Confidence Index by the Conference Board rose from 92.6 to 96.5 from November to December.  The index shows that consumer confidence is growing back to pre-Recession levels.

Finally, construction housing starts and permits for 2015 were up 10.8% year-over-year to equal to 1.11 million.  Single-family home starts were up 10.4% and multi-family housing starts were up 11.4%.  The single-family home starts numbers came to 715,300.  Increases were seen in all 4 reported regions of the United States for single-family homes.  Housing permits were also up compared to 2014 by 12% with a total of 1.18 million.  Single-family home permits were up by 7.9%, and multi-family home permits were up by 11.4%.  In December, single-family home permit numbers were up by 1.8% compared to November as well.

All signs point to a solidly recovering housing market nationwide, and here in St. Tammany Parish, the custom home business is thriving with many new exciting projects for 2016.  If you are interested in building or buying a new, custom home, Contact Us at 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

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New Home Buyers Have More Selection in New Homes

Even though the housing market has been making incredible strides in its recovery since its low in 2008, one of the major obstacles that has been holding the sale of real estate back is the lack of supply for the growing demand of home buyers.  New home buyers especially have been stymied by a lack of inventory from local builders.  Builders themselves have been frustrated by the tightened funding requirements for construction loans from79 Oleander Carriage Style Garage banks and lenders, so there is been a “stalemate” of sorts going on in the new home industry.

However, good news is on the horizon for real estate because single-family home starts have been on the rise and holding steady over most of the months of 2015.  Single-family home startss remained steady from August to September with 740,000 starts nationwide for both months.  Overall, housing starts (including multi-family housing) increased by 6.5% and reached the 1.2 million mark – the highest its been since October, 2007.

From a yearly perspective, quarter-over-quarter, single-family home starts are up 5.7% 3rd quarter from second quarter with a total of 746,000 home starts.  The numbers year-over-year show that single-family home starts are up 11% compared to 2014.

Another strong sign of new home real estate recovering is the number of housing permits for single-family home starts.  The number of permits for single-family homes went up 9.4% year-over-year and also remained unchanged compared to the previous month of August from September, 2015. Trends also show that money of the new home purchases are coming from “contingency sales” where a home buyer has a house to sell and wants to build or buy new which is excellent news for new home builders.

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Newly Built Home Sales Rose 5.4% From June

Just like summer in Louisiana is hot in July, the housing market nationwide heated up this summer with new home sales activity rising to 507,000 homes sold. The Census Bureau and HUD reported that newly built home 2015 Parade of Homessales rose 5.4% from June and 25.8% from July of last year. New home inventories were reported at 218,000 in July which is the highest level that has been seen in over five years.

This increase was also seen in the private residential construction spending where the highest amount spent was at an annual rate of $387 billion in July. This increase in spending verifies that the construction industry is continuing to experience strong economic growth. Single family homes have pushed construction expansion 15.8% on a year-over-year basis and multifamily new home construction spending is 21.2% higher than it was reported a year ago as well.

Developers, new home builders, and custom home builders are not the only ones that are seeing a positive growth, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports increase in existing home sales. Existing home sales increased in July 0.5% from June and 7.4% from July of last year. Completed transactions were reported at the highest since February 2007, which was the beginning of the downhill slide of the Recession.

Home buyer confidence stems from the strengthening economy overall with increased spending. The Bureau of

Economic Analysis reports that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew to a strong 3.7% rate. These findings were based on several factors including investment, faster growth for consumption, government spending and trade components.

Now is the time for buyers to tap into the housing market. Sales are solid which makes the real estate market a stable vested interest. New home prices are continuing to strengthen making real estate a great investment. Interest rates continue to remain at record lows with the reluctance of the Fed to increase interest rates. The Department of Housing and Urban Development have rolled out new loan products which require a much lower down payment on FHA and some conventional mortgages. Best of all, there is a spectacular new home builder in St. Tammany Parish which builds new, custom home exactly to your specifications and design. These new homes are designed and built to withstand the test of time and elements with energy efficient green building techniques as well as the best, most quality components to ensure the strongest and best built new home in St. Tammany Parish. For More Information, Call 985-626-7619 or E-mail Info@RonLeeHomes.com.

 

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