Choose your path
The Federal Housing Administration on Dec. 5 announced that its loan limit for much of the U.S. will increase about $17,000 to $331,760 for 2020, HousingWire reported. The FHA loan limit is calculated as a percentage of the conforming limit established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which will increase to $510,400 next year.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Oversight Council released its annual report Dec. 4, which showed significant financial market and regulatory developments and revealed potential threats to U.S. financial security. The report also noted that federal and state regulators are collecting data, identifying risks and strengthening oversight of nonbank financial companies that originate and service residential mortgages.
The chances of an economic recession in the U.S. next year are decreasing, but experts said there’s a 35% chance of a downturn before the presidential election and they expect job growth to slow and unemployment to increase, according to Bankrate’s Fourth Quarter Economic Indicator survey released Dec. 4.
Investors continue to seek single-tenant, net-lease industrial properties, with sales volume increasing 24% year-over-year to $55.2 billion at the end of the third quarter, according to real estate firm CBRE, National Real Estate Investor reported Dec. 2. Annual transaction volume likely will surpass $70 billion, which would be a record.
The changing nature of office demand, rent control regulations, Fed action on interest rates and new technology are among the trends that real estate executives say will influence property markets in the coming year, GlobeSt.com reported Dec. 3.
Demand for senior living communities may be waning as older citizens continue to age in place, and that has investors worried about overbuilding, according to healthcare services provider Senior Living Communities, Forbes reported Dec. 3. Potentially compounding the problem: the population of people aged 65 and older will decrease after 2030.
The forecast for U.S. hotel performance reveals lower revenue per available room through the end of next year, with growth projected at less than 1% — a big change from the past nine consecutive years with growth above 3%, according to hospitality analytics firm STR, MBA NewsLink reported Dec. 1. The slowdown is blamed on supply outpacing demand.
Investment firm Blackstone Group sold the last of its shares in Invitation Homes, the firm’s rental business, bringing to a close its interest in the single-family rental space, DS News reported Nov. 21. The exit is purely financial, with Blackstone having reaped about $7 billion in profit since creating the business in 2012.
The majority of single-family and multifamily home building is happening in counties with the highest concentration of millennials, but construction still falls short of what is needed to keep up with increased household formation and population growth, the National Association of Home Builders reported Dec. 3.
Most of the nation’s rental markets saw rent prices decline or remain relatively flat in December, real estate rental site Zumper reported Dec. 4 in its National Rental Report. San Francisco, the nation’s most expensive rental market, saw prices decline 1.1% for one-bedroom units and 3.6% for two-bedrooms.
Home sales are expected to fall next year as aging baby boomers hang on to their properties and cause “gridlock” that could make 2020 a challenging year for hopeful buyers, Realtor.com reported Dec. 4 in its 2020 housing forecast.
Mortgage rates were unchanged during the past week; however, homebuyer demand rose 8%, indicating that sentiment toward real estate remained bullish, Freddie Mac reported Dec. 5 in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Construction spending fell modestly during the reporting period.
Pop up content here.