In this week’s rental property, average U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rates slightly declined to 3.85 percent from 3.86 percent a week earlier. The Wall Street Journal had a Q&A session with Zillow’s chief economist discussing some of the current issues around real estate. According to Realtor.com, millennials are showing a different behavioral pattern in the housing market. Urban Land Institute released a new Real Estate Consensus Forecast. Apartment vacancy rate rose by 0.1% in the third quarter, but the vacancy rates for office properties fell by 0.1%.
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Average US rate on 30-year mortgages eases to 3.85 percent; 15-year loan down to 3.07 percent
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates eased slightly this week, continuing at low levels that could entice potential homebuyers. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.85 percent from 3.86 percent a week earlier. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages ticked down to 3.07 percent from 3.08 percent. Rates have stayed below 4 percent for 10 straight weeks:
Q&A: Zillow Economist Says Fed Move Could Cool Hot Housing Markets
The Federal Reserve might accomplish something in San Francisco that otherwise seemed impossible in recent years: cool down the hot housing market. If the Federal Reserve raises benchmark interest rates later this year, one effect would likely be slower home-price appreciation in sizzling markets, including the Bay Area, Denver and Seattle, said Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell:
The Cities Where Millennials Are Taking Over the Housing Market
Millennials are dominating the Des Moines housing market. That’s an odd piece of information that seems a little less odd—and a little more important—the longer you ponder it. Roughly 60 percent of borrowers who used a mortgage to buy a home in Iowa’s capital city during the first half of 2015 were aged 25 to 34, according to data from Realtor.com. That compares with a national average of 37 percent, and makes Des Moines the most millennial-friendly city in the U.S. Here’s the rest of the top 10:
New Urban Land Institute Semi-Annual Forecast For Real Estate Market Less Bullish, But Still Foresees Continued Economic Expansion Through 2017
The real estate market is projected to continue expanding at healthy and fairly steady levels for 2015 through 2017, according to a new three-year economic forecast from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate. The latest ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast, a semi-annual outlook, is based on a survey of 49 of the industry’s top economists and analysts representing 36 of the country’s leading real estate investment, advisory, and research firms and organizations:
Apartment Market Boom Levels Out, Data Indicate
The apartment market boom of the past several years appears to be topping out, according to data set to be released Thursday by real-estate researcher Reis Inc. Increasing supply sent the vacancy rate up to 4.3% in the third quarter from 4.2% in the second quarter, which matched the lowest since the recession. With some 200,000 additional rental units expected to hit the market this year, economists expect higher vacancy rates in coming quarters.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/apartment-market-boom-levels-out-data-indicate-1443756660
Office market demand headed for best year since 2007
The U.S. office market is “slowly and quietly” recovering and gathering speed, with 2015 shaping up to the best year for demand for office space since the pre-recession years, according to commercial real estate research service Reis Inc. in its third-quarter office sector trends report: