Flemington?

Posted on October 14, 2024 by grim

From NJ1015:

The new ‘up-and-coming’ town in NJ is one you’d never think of

When the pandemic hit, it sent a wave of New Yorkers into New Jersey. People flocked to commuter towns, and it felt like everyone was on the move.

That whole period seems like a lifetime ago, but it definitely changed how people saw certain towns—probably because they didn’t have a choice.

If you’re curious about what New Jersey’s hottest town is right now, I think you’re gonna be pretty surprised. Enter Flemington, Hunterdon County’s cozy, historic, and growing bedroom community.

Flemington is a great mix of small-town charm, including historic buildings and tree-lined streets. Speaking of historic, 65% of their historic buildings are on the national historic register.

It’s a great place for farm-to-table dining, great boutiques and a really strong wellness culture. It’s turning into a hub for festivals and cultural events, all wrapped in that country-town vibe.
…
Of course, with all this attention, housing prices are rising. The average home value in Flemington has jumped 11% in the last year, now sitting at $615,405.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 46 Comments

NJ Makes!

Posted on October 10, 2024 by grim

From the APP:

NJ manufacturing doing better than you think, making these things you’d never imagine

Each month, Unex Manufacturing Inc. executives get a phone call or email from an economic development group in another state — Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio — asking if they are ready to move out of New Jersey to a cheaper location.

A move would no doubt help Unex lower its taxes and labor costs and keep up with its competitors. But after 60 years in New Jersey, the executives have stood their ground. They are staying.

“We have a good group of people here,” said Howard McIlvanie, vice president of operations and one of the company’s owners. “If we picked up and moved, we might lose a majority of them, and I don’t think we’d want to do that.”

New Jersey’s manufacturing industry, written off not long ago as a relic, is staging a modest comeback. New companies, aided by advances in technology, are starting from their homes. Policymakers are devoting more resources to manufacturers and training programs. And companies in the state have more job openings than they can fill.

A return to the state’s manufacturing heyday seems unlikely. New Jersey remains expensive and has recently lost high-profile manufacturers.

But New Jersey government and industry officials aren’t conceding defeat, noting that the state’s biggest economic development selling points — an educated work force and location in the heart of the Northeast — are coming in handy for “advanced” manufacturing firms that require high-tech skills.

New Jersey’s manufacturing sector has increased from 241,300 jobs in December 2013 to 255,000 jobs in December 2023, stemming what was a decades-long decline.

“Not declaring victory, but we’d characterize that as a good start,” Tim Sullivan, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), said last week at a Freehold Township conference sponsored by New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, an industry trade group.

Posted in Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 150 Comments

Inventory ticking up, but NJ market absorbs it

Posted on October 8, 2024 by grim

From NorthJersey.com:

How North Jersey’s real estate market performed in September as interest rates decline

How much has North Jersey’s housing inventory changed?

Eighteen of New Jersey’s 21 counties had an increase in new listings compared with September 2023, and 14 counties saw more listings compared with August.

In North Jersey, Sussex was the only county to see a decrease in new listings from this time last year. With 192 new listings, the county saw a 11.11% decrease from September 2023. Otherwise, all other North Jersey counties saw new listings increase from last year:

  • Bergen: 866 (37.03%).
  • Passaic: 278 (0.72%).
  • Morris: 496 (10.71%).
  • Essex: 522 (29.21%).
  • Hudson: 482 (10.55%).

How long are North Jersey homes staying on the market?

Compared with September 2023, 11 counties had active listings stay on the market for a longer period. Similarly, active listings stayed on the market longer in 11 counties when compared with August 2024.

The North Jersey counties of Morris, Sussex and Hudson had homes stay on the market for more days in September than this time last year, while Bergen, Passaic and Essex had homes stay on the market for fewer days.

  • Bergen: 33 days (-18.13%).
  • Passaic: 34 days (-8.11%).
  • Morris: 37 days (10.61%).
  • Essex: 33 days (-8.33%).
  • Sussex: 42 days (5.06%).
  • Hudson: 43 days (8.97%).

What about North Jersey median home prices?

Of New Jersey’s 21 counties, 18 had an increase in median listing prices from September 2023. And when compared with August 2024, 12 counties had an increase in median listing prices and one county stayed the same.

In North Jersey, Bergen was the only county to see a decrease in median listing prices compared with this time last year. Bergen County had a 0.97% decrease, with a median listing price of $780,749. Otherwise, all other North Jersey counties saw prices increase.

  • Passaic: $540,000 (12.73%).
  • Morris: $724,424 (3.93%).
  • Essex: $577,500 (12.57%).
  • Sussex: $432,500 (12.34%).
  • Hudson: $665,000 (7.53%).
Posted in Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate, North Jersey Real Estate | 115 Comments

Shut up and be happy

Posted on October 5, 2024 by grim

From WalletHub:

Happiest States in America (2024)

Happiness comes from a combination of internal and external factors. We can influence it somewhat by approaching situations positively or choosing to spend time with people we love, doing activities we enjoy. However, other things out of our control, like the cost-of-living crisis or the stress of being in an election year – and they have taken a toll, with only 47% of Americans saying they are “very satisfied” with their lives.

New Jersey

New Jersey is the third-happiest state, with the lowest share of people reporting traumatic events during their childhood and the second-highest life satisfaction rate. The state also has the second-lowest depression rate and the second-highest share of people who have supportive relationships and love in their lives. All these factors come together to create the conditions for good mental health.

Residents of New Jersey also demonstrate their happiness in their marriages. The Garden State has the third-lowest separation and divorce rate in the country, at around 17%.

Finally, when it comes to finances, New Jersey has the third-highest share of households earning over $75,000 per year. It also has the sixth-lowest food insecurity rate, which shows that the state is making progress when it comes to addressing poverty. Plus, New Jersey has the ninth-lowest share of people who get anxious when thinking about their personal finances.

Posted in Crisis, Humor, Where's the Beef? | 153 Comments

Jobs Day!

Posted on October 4, 2024 by grim

From CNBC:

Here’s everything to expect when the September jobs report is released Friday

September’s jobs picture is expected to look a lot like August’s — a gradual slowdown in hiring from earlier this year, a modest increase in wages and a labor market that is looking a lot like many policymakers had hoped it would.

Nonfarm payrolls are projected to show growth of 150,000, from 142,000 the month before, with a steady unemployment rate of 4.2%, according to the Dow Jones consensus. On the wage side, the forecast is for a 0.3% monthly gain and a 3.8% increase from a year ago — the annual rate being the same as August.

Should the numbers come in as expected, they would hit close to a sweet spot allowing the Federal Reserve to continue to lower interest rates without a sense of urgency that it could be behind the curve and at risk of causing a recession.

“The jobs market is slowing down and becoming less tight,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management. “The balance of power has shifted back to employers and away from employees, and that certainly will alleviate the wage pressure, which has been a key component of inflation. We’ve been team soft-landing for a while, and this is exactly what a soft landing looks like.”

Of course, there’s always the possibility of a substantial upside or downside surprise to the numbers. 
…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the report at 8:30 a.m. While there will still be one more nonfarm payrolls count before the presidential vote next month, the October report is expected to be distorted by the dock workers’ strike as well as Hurricane Helene — making September the last “clean” report before Election Day.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, National Real Estate | 89 Comments

NJ’s warehouse craze over?

Posted on October 3, 2024 by grim

From NJ Spotlight News:

Warehouse vacancies rise, fueling claims of an overbuilt market

Warehouse vacancies in New Jersey are on the rise, as supply outpaces demand and community groups continue to fight the explosive growth in new construction.

The vacancy rate for warehouses and other kinds of industrial real estate in northern and central New Jersey rose to 5.3% in the second quarter of 2024 from 4.8% in the first quarter and 2.5% in the second quarter of 2022, according to data from Newmark, a real estate company that monitors the market.

Those numbers are more than twice as high as they were two years ago, leaving more than 36 million square feet of industrial space available in north and central Jersey. The figure rises to almost 53 million vacant square feet when the survey adds space that is available for sublease by tenants who are looking to downsize or reduce the amount of space they occupy.

Newmark called the increased vacancy rate a “substantial shift,” and attributed it to a slowdown in leasing activity and an increase in the delivery of available properties in 2023. Despite the higher vacancy rate, asking rents rose to a record-high $17.01 per square foot, an increase of 9.5% over the previous year, reflecting an increase in the construction of top-class industrial space.

One example of the warehouse construction boom is seen in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, where at least nine industrial spaces totaling more than 850,000 square feet were available for lease on Sept.20, according to commercialsearch.com, a website for commercial real estate. At least three of the properties were built in 2023 or later.
…
The new data fuels claims that the warehouse market is overbuilt, and that developers are continuing to construct the giant buildings, some of which are built before tenants have committed to occupation, regardless of market demand, and despite strong opposition in some communities.

Tim Brill of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, a critic of the rising presence of warehouses in the state, said the apparent oversupply is primarily driven by too many warehouses being built speculatively, but that supply keeps being added even though some new buildings remain empty.

“This is a way overbuilt market,” he said.

Posted in Economics, New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 74 Comments

So much for NJ’s economy

Posted on September 30, 2024 by grim

From Reuters:

US East Coast port strike looms Tuesday with no talks scheduled

U.S. East and Gulf Coast port workers are set to go on strike at midnight on Monday with no talks currently scheduled to head off a stoppage threatening to halt container traffic from Maine to Texas and cost the economy as much as $5 billion a day.

The labor contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union representing 45,000 port workers and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group expires late Monday, with negotiations at an impasse over pay.

A port strike will go ahead starting Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. ET, the ILA said on Sunday. The USMX “refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation,” the union said in a statement on Sunday.

If union members do walk off the job, it would be the first coast-wide ILA strike since 1977, affecting ports that handle about half of the nation’s ocean shipping.

No negotiations are taking place and none are planned before the Monday deadline, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one.

But a strike could stop the flow of everything from food to automobiles at major ports, potentially jeopardizing jobs and stoking inflation weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

Business Roundtable, which represents major U.S. business leaders, said it was “deeply concerned about the potential strike at the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.”

The group warned a labor stoppage could cost the economy billions of dollars daily, hurting businesses, workers and consumers across the country. “We urge both sides to come to an agreement before Monday night’s deadline.”

A short strike could have a limited economic impact given many companies have imported extra goods ahead of a possible work stoppage or shifted more shipments to West Coast ports. But a strike that continues for weeks could have serious economic impacts.

“These people today don’t know what a strike is,” Harold Daggett, the ILA’s fiery leader, said in a recent video post. “I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you.”

Posted in Crisis, Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Unrest | 195 Comments

Northeast takes a dip

Posted on September 28, 2024 by grim

From the NAR:

Pending Home Sales Edged Up 0.6% in August

Pending home sales in August rose 0.6%, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The Midwest, South and West posted monthly gains in transactions, while the Northeast recorded a loss. Year-over-year, the West registered growth, but the Northeast, Midwest and South declined.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* – a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings – increased to 70.6 in August. Year over year, pending transactions were down 3.0%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

“A slight upward turn reflects a modest improvement in housing affordability, primarily because mortgage rates descended to 6.5% in August,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “However, contract signings remain near cyclical lows even as home prices keep marching to new record highs.”

The Northeast PHSI diminished 4.6% from last month to 61.6, a drop of 2.2% from August 2023. The Midwest index intensified 3.2% to 70.0 in August, down 3.6% from one year ago.

The South PHSI grew 0.1% to 83.6 in August, receding 5.3% from the prior year. The West index increased 3.2% in August to 58.0, up 2.7% from August 2023.

“In terms of home sales and prices, the New England region has performed relatively better than other regions in recent months,” Yun said. “Contract signings rose in both the most affordable and most expensive regions – the Midwest and West, respectively – because mortgage rates have fallen nationally. Housing affordability will continue to see notable improvements.” 
“The Federal Reserve does not directly control mortgage rates, but the anticipation of more short-term interest rate cuts has pushed long-term mortgage rates down to near 6% in late September,” added Yun. “On a typical $300,000 mortgage, that translates to approximately $300 per month in mortgage payment savings compared to a few months ago.”

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 62 Comments

First timers vs. Investors

Posted on September 26, 2024 by grim

From HousingWire:

Investors are purchasing fewer homes, but they still account for nearly 25% of sales

The share of single-family homes sold to investors peaked at nearly 30% at the start of this year, but these types of transactions dropped significantly in the ensuing six months, according to a CoreLogic report released Wednesday.

Investor purchases began to decline in March 2024 and by June represented 23.4% of all U.S. home sales. That was the lowest share in two years, CoreLogic economist Thomas Malone noted in the report. But investor activity is still higher than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when their purchase share bounced between 15% to 20%.

”The decline since March is sharp, but it is not clear that it will last,” Malone wrote. ”This drop could just be a seasonal movement that comes from (consumer) buyers being more active during the summer months. Whether the slump persists will be determined by whether buyers remain active this fall when interest rates are anticipated to drop.”

CoreLogic reported that the number of investor home purchases in June 2024 had been slashed to 80,000. That was down from 112,000 in June 2023 and nearly half of the peak rate of 149,000 purchases in June 2021, when mortgage rates bottomed out below 3%.

Real estate investors have been accused of driving up home prices across the country. A report released in May by theGovernment Accountability Office concluded while that large institutional investors like Blackstone Group and Invitation Homes may have influenced the rise in prices since the Great Recession, is it more difficult to assess whether they actually reduced homeownership opportunities.

CoreLogic added to this conclusion by noting that ”investors bring additional demand to the market, but not additional supply, so they impact prices.” But outside of a 12-month window in 2021 and 2022 where investor purchases and sale prices surged in tandem, ”the two variables don’t seem to move together.”

In July, Senate Democrats — led by Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sherrod Brown of Ohio — introduced legislation that would require large corporations and private equity firms to report bulk purchases of single-family homes to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for antitrust review.

Lawmakers said at the time that the bill, which remains in the committee stage, would “stop anticompetitive transactions that could increase rents, decrease services, and push homebuyers out of the market.”

But institutional investors maintain a small presence in the context of the housing market at large, CoreLogic reported. Across the 20 largest U.S. metro areas, so-called ”mega investors,” or those that own at least 1,000 homes, represent about 1% of all purchases. Corporations that own at least 100 homes account for another 2%, while small investors who own fewer than 10 homes have a market share of 18%.

CoreLogic also separated home sales into three price buckets and found that investors accounted for 29% of all purchases in the least expensive tier — i.e., starter homes. They represented 22% of all sales in the mid-priced tier and 21% of all sales in the most expensive tier.

Posted in Crisis, Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 125 Comments

Time to spend!

Posted on September 25, 2024 by grim

From CNBC:

Mortgage rates dip, giving U.S. homebuyers over $200,000 in additional spending power in some U.S. cities

U.S. home buyers are gaining tens of thousands in purchasing power as mortgage rates drop.

With 30-year fixed mortgage rates declining from 7.79% in October 2023 to 6.2% last week, home buyers in the 100 largest U.S. cities have gained a median of $70,000 in additional buying power for the same $2,100 monthly payment, according to a Realtor.com analysis.

In other words, a U.S. buyer can now afford a home $70,000 more expensive than what they were planning to purchase last year.

The findings are based on the monthly payment for a median-priced home in the U.S., a 20% down payment and a 6.2% mortgage rate. The analysis applied the same method to each of the 100 largest cities, calculating how much extra buying power homebuyers have in each local market compared with last year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, buyers in cities with the most expensive homes saw their spending power increase the most. In San Jose, California, for example, buyers can now afford a home worth $1.6 million for the same monthly payment they could get a $1.4 million home a year ago, according to Realtor.com.

Those savings will likely grow, too. With the Federal Reserve cutting its benchmark federal funds rate by 50 basis points last week, mortgage rates are forecasted to decline to 6% or less at some point in 2025.

If that happens, additional buying power for homebuyers in the 100 largest metro areas would increase to $84,800 for a median-priced home, compared with October 2023, according to the analysis.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, Mortgages | 79 Comments

Back to “normal”?

Posted on September 23, 2024 by grim

From the AP:

For home shoppers, the Fed’s big rate cut is likely just a small step towards affording a home

The Federal Reserve gave home shoppers what they hoped for this week: a big rate cut and a signal of more cuts to come. 

Even so, aspiring homebuyers and homeowners eager to refinance should temper their expectations of a big drop in mortgage rates from here.

While the Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, its policy pivot does clear a path for mortgage rates to go lower. But in this case, the Fed’s action was widely anticipated, so rates moved lower well before the cut was even announced. 

“We’ve seen the bulk of the easing that we’re going to get already this year,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if mortgage rates ticked up a bit from here before declining again.”

When mortgage rates rise, they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose from below 3% in September 2021 to a 23-year high of 7.8% last October. That coincided with the Fed jacking up its benchmark interest rate to fight inflation.

Rates have been mostly declining since July in anticipation of a Fed rate cut. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now 6.09%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. That’s down from 7.22% in May, its peak so far this year. 
…
While lower rates give home shoppers more purchasing power, a mortgage around 6% is still not low enough for many Americans struggling to afford a home. That’s mostly because home prices have soared 49% over the past five years, roughly double the growth in wages. They remain near record highs, propped up by a shortage of homes in many markets. 

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, Housing Bubble, Mortgages, National Real Estate | 97 Comments

NJ loses jobs in August

Posted on September 21, 2024 by grim

From ROINJ:

New Jersey payrolls decline in August; unemployment rate at 4.8% 

New Jersey recorded a decrease of 4,400 jobs between July and August, bringing the seasonally adjusted total to 4,369,400 jobs, according to Thursday estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The state’s unemployment rate ticked up by a tenth of a percentage point, to 4.8% in August.

In August, gains in the private sector were seen in four out of nine private industries. Sectors that recorded job gains include education and health services (+1,000), manufacturing (+900), financial activities (+900) and leisure and hospitality (+200).

Sectors that recorded employment losses included professional and business services (-2,700), construction (-1,600), trade, transportation and utilities (-500), other services (-400) and information (-200). Public-sector jobs decreased by 2,000 for August, mostly at the local level.

Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 49,600 nonfarm jobs. About 86% of those gains were in the private sector, with four out of nine private sector industries recording a gain between August 2023 and August.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 18 Comments

Fed unexpectedly cuts by 50

Posted on September 19, 2024 by grim

From CNBC:

Fed slashes interest rates by a half point, an aggressive start to its first easing campaign in four years

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday enacted its first interest rate cut since the early days of the Covid pandemic, slicing half a percentage point off benchmark rates in an effort to head off a slowdown in the labor market.

With both the jobs picture and inflation softening, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee chose to lower its key overnight borrowing rate by a half percentage point, or 50 basis points, affirming market expectations that had recently shifted from an outlook for a cut half that size.

Outside of the emergency rate reductions during Covid, the last time the FOMC cut by half a point was in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

The decision lowers the federal funds rate to a range between 4.75%-5%. While the rate sets short-term borrowing costs for banks, it spills over into multiple consumer products such as mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.

In addition to this reduction, the committee indicated through its “dot plot” the equivalent of 50 more basis points of cuts by the end of the year, close to market pricing. The matrix of individual officials’ expectations pointed to another full percentage point in cuts by the end of 2025 and a half point in 2026. In all, the dot plot shows the benchmark rate coming down about 2 percentage points beyond Wednesday’s move.

“The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” the post-meeting statement said.

The decision to ease came “in light of progress on inflation and the balance of risks.” Notably, the FOMC vote was 11-1, with Governor Michelle Bowman preferring a quarter-point move. Bowman’s dissent was the first by a Fed governor since 2005, though a number of regional presidents have cast “no” votes during the period.

“We’re trying to achieve a situation where we restore price stability without the kind of painful increase in unemployment that has come sometimes with this inflation. That’s what we’re trying to do, and I think you could take today’s action as a sign of our strong commitment to achieve that goal,” Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference following the decision.

Posted in Economics, Employment, Mortgages, National Real Estate | 208 Comments

August heats up

Posted on September 18, 2024 by grim

From Redfin:

U.S. Home Prices Rose 0.5% in August, the Biggest Increase in 4 Months

U.S. home prices grew 0.5% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, the largest month-over-month increase since April.  On a year-over-year basis, home prices rose 6.7%, the lowest annual increase since January. 

This is according to the Redfin Home Price Index (RHPI), which uses the repeat-sales pricing method to calculate seasonally adjusted changes in prices of single-family homes. The RHPI measures sale prices of homes that sold during a given period, and how those prices have changed since the last time those same homes sold. It’s similar to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices but is published more than one month earlier. August data covers the three months ending August 31, 2024. Read the full RHPI methodology here.

Home prices continue to rise in part because there aren’t enough homes for sale.  Housing supply is up 16.7% from a year ago, but is still down almost 30% from pre-pandemic levels. 

“Prices kept creeping up during this unusually slow summer for home sales as mortgage rates came down and supply remained stubbornly low,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “If mortgage rates fall further this fall—and we expect they will—price growth will likely pick up as more prospective homebuyers come off the sidelines .”

Mortgage affordability could improve as soon as tomorrow, depending on how much the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. 

Twenty (40%) of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas recorded a seasonally adjusted drop in home prices in August, month over month. 

The biggest decline in August was in San Antonio, TX (-2.4%), followed by Warren, MI (-0.9%) and Oakland, CA (-0.7%). The highest month over month gains were recorded in Philadelphia (1.5%), Detroit (1.3%), and Providence, RI (1.2%).

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 127 Comments

Starter home? What’s that?

Posted on September 17, 2024 by grim

From CBS News:

As more first-time homebuyers are priced out, what can revive the American starter home?

Felicia Ellis is actively looking to buy her first home by the end of the year. A three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on a tree-lined street in Houston seemed like it could be a perfect fit. 

But the starter home Ellis desperately wants seems to be priced like a forever home she can’t afford. Someone else put in an offer, and it was accepted.

“[It was] the one that got away,” Ellis said.

Ellis says she has a good job earning around $70,000, but her student loans have made her debt-to-income ratio a turnoff for lenders. She’s previously been approved for a $200,000 loan, which falls more than $150,000 short of the homes she’s been looking at in an area with good schools for her young daughter. Currently Ellis and her daughter share a room in an apartment Ellis rents with her sister. 

Five years ago, one in three American families could afford a starter home in 63 of America’s largest 100 cities, CBS News found. Now, it’s down to just 10 cities.
…
This housing crisis is at least a decade in the making, according to Chris Vincent, vice president of government relations and advocacy for Habitat for Humanity. The nonprofit, one of America’s largest builders of starter homes, now focuses on advocacy as much as building.

“A lot of this is from the tailwinds, even from the ’08 financial crisis,” Vincent said. “We’ve essentially not been building enough homes for the last decade to keep up with demand.”

In Silver Spring, Maryland, Carolyn Hipkins got lucky. She was making $54,000 a year when she bought a starter home rehabbed by Habitat for Humanity. The sale price was $360,000 with a 0% mortgage. 

“I was so happy when I got that call on the phone. I had to control myself because I wanted to scream,” Hipkins said.

Habitat for Humanity doesn’t just build single family homes anymore, either. They’re the ninth largest builder of starter homes in the U.S., offering condos and apartments to a range of incomes. One in six families now spend more than half of their income on housing, according to the organization. Vincent says they’re advocating for access to credit and land in “communities of opportunity.”

The housing shortage is also a key economic issue for American voters ahead of the Nov. 5 election. 

Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed providing $25,000 in down payment assistance for Americans who have paid their rent on time for two years. She has also proposed building 3 million affordable new homes and rentals by the end of her first term, offering tax incentives for developers who build starter homes, and a $40 billion fund to help local governments find solutions to the shortage. 

Former President Donald Trump has proposed making federal land available to help with housing supply, but his campaign hasn’t offered any further details.

Posted in Crisis, Demographics, Economics, Housing Bubble, National Real Estate, New Development | 103 Comments