All the Real Estate News That’s Fit to RE-Print™
Welcome to our weekly edition of Real Estate Investing News This Week. Here’s the best of this week’s real estate news:
- Existing home sales highest in 6 1/2 years
- Building permits and housing starts are up
- Top 25 “hidden gem” single family rental markets
We hope these real estate news items help you stay up-to-date with your real estate investing strategies and inspire some profitable real estate deals for you.
August Existing Home Sales Rise to Highest in 6 1/2 Years
Existing-home sales increased in August and reached the highest level in six-and-a-half years, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, are 13.2 percent higher than in August 2012.
Sales are at the highest pace since February 2007 and have remained above year-ago levels for the past 26 months.
Building Permits and Housing Starts Are Up
The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for August 2013:
Building Permits
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 918,000. This is 11.0 percent above the August 2012 estimate of 827,000.
Housing Starts
Privately-owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 891,000. This is 19.0 percent above the August 2012 rate of 749,000.
Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 628,000; this is 7.0 percent above the revised July figure of 587,000.
Housing Completions
Privately-owned housing completions in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 769,000. This is 12.1 percent above the August 2012 rate of 686,000.
Single-family housing completions in August were at a rate of 573,000; this is 0.5 percent above the revised July rate of 570,000.
Top 25 Hidden Gem Single Family Rental Markets
Counties in Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Tennessee and Florida top list
On Thursday, RealtyTrac® and RentRange released a list of the Top 25 Hidden Gem Single Family Rental Markets nationwide based on gross rental yield, the expected return on investment before accounting for taxes, maintenance fees and other costs.
The Top 25 Hidden Gem Single Family Markets were determined by evaluating gross rental yield data provided by RentRange, institutional investor sales data provided by RealtyTrac, and unemployment data for more than 450 nationwide counties with populations of 100,000 or more.
The analysis was limited to single family homes with three bedrooms. The top 25 markets had the highest gross rental yields in counties where institutional investor purchases accounted for 5 percent or less of all residential sales in the three-month period ending in July, and the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent or lower.