Blog
N. Mark Kramoltz, JD, GRI, CIPS writes blog articles on the metro Phoenix, Arizona, national and global real estate markets. Written from his perspective as a designated broker and real estate attorney, his articles avoid the inaccuracies and vacuous industry propaganda common to most real estate writings. He also blogs about animals (mostly dogs in the military) due to his love of pets and military history.
Mortgage Rates Near New Low.
Mortgage rates continue to hover around all-time lows, with the 30-year fixed-rate averaging around 3.43% this week, making this the ninth consecutive week that mortgage rates have been below 3.5%. Want even a lower rate? 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 2.74%.
Canadians Haven’t all Left.
Canadian buyers accounted for about 6% of the homes purchased in the metro Phoenix area at their peak in April of 2011. Then the Canadian dollar was worth more than ours, and Canadians were purchasing at the bottom of our market. Today, the U.S. dollar buys around...
Phoenix a Top Market Where Renters Can Afford to Buy.
The National Association of REALTORS reviewed employment growth, household income and qualifying income levels in nearly 100 of the largest metropolitan areas across the U.S., to determine which areas with employment gains above the national average also have the...
New Home Construction Up.
There were 3.301 closing of new home builds by production builders in the 2nd quarter of 2016 in the Phoenix metro area - a rise of 37% from the same quarter last year.
Closing Costs – Who Pays and How Much? Part 2.
PrePaids. These are buyer costs for things like real estate taxes, homeowners insurance, and loan interest. Real estate taxes are prorated between buyer and seller based on what time of the year a closing occurs, and the buyer pays its share up to the date of closing...
International Buyers Include More Resident Foreigners.
Resident foreigners accounted for 59% of all of the U.S. residential real estate bought by international purchasers, compared to 41% for nonresident foreigners. In previous years the proportions were close to 50-50. I couldn’t find any explanations for the change, but...
Smaller is Better?
In The New American Home, Stephen Kim found that Baby Boomers are looking to downsize, and Millennials are choosing style over size. Both are looking for smaller, better appointed homes. As a result, the size of the new American home is shrinking for the first time in...
Lot Sizes Plunge.
The median lot size of a new single-family detached home sold in 2015 dropped under 8,600 square feet for the first time since Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction started tracking that statistic. This is part of a national trend where both homes and lots are...
More Chinese, Less Canadians.
U.S. real estate purchases by Canadians used to lead the way in U.S. international sales, but that’s not the case anymore. Chinese buyers represented 45% of all purchases totaling $27 billion in sales, followed by Canada ($8.9 billion), India ($6.1 billion) the U.K....