07/20/10 Special - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

- By the end of 2010, 40 percent of all homes with mortgages are predicted to be underwater. That is with principal balances higher on mortgage than the current values of the homes that secure them. - The biggest obstacle to stabilizing home prices is the threat of a new wave of foreclosures. In 2008, more than 1.7 million homes were foreclosed on or lost by short sale or deed in lieu. Another 2 million were lost in 2009, and projections for 2.4 million in 2010 could be a conservative number. - The cost and availability of debt will affect the ability of millions to buy homes or to afford to rent in new buildings, most especially members of Generation Y (89 million), who normally would be forming their first households in the years ahead. This means members of this generation will be renting for longer periods than previous generations. Generation Y is characterized as the mobile generation. - The move into retirement and life care communities for the older baby boomers (55-64) will be deferred for a decade or more unless the housing forms adapt to the desires of this new group of young active seniors. As a result, the market for housing for seniors will grow more slowly than expected. - In 2009, a survey by real estate advisory firm RCLCO found that 75 percent of retiring boomers said that they want to live in mixed-age and mixed-use communities. Walkable, urbanized suburban town centers will see an influx of aging boomers. - The fastest-growing segment in household size recently has been single-person households, most of which are made up of women. Number of households may grow as anticipated, population will not grow at expected rate as we have seen recently in the Ramsey community. - Home prices are reaching levels of affordability not seen in years. The median sale price for existing homes nationally was $164,900 in March 2010, down from $221,900 in 2006. - The rental vacancy rate in the United States was 8 percent at the end of 2009, the highest level since 1980. At the same time, rents fell 3 percent. These conditions are projected to continue through 2010 and 2011 as units started in 2007 and 2008 come on line. This equates to 1.2 million more vacancies than normal. - The years 2012 through 2014 may be very good for the multifamily housing market. IF the economy has recovered by then and unemployment falls back to 6 or 7 percent as expected, it will spur demand for rental housing and housing in general, because household formation should rebound. - Standards, markets, and technologies are evolving and a new goal is emerging-the net zero energy home. Most definitions of this model describe a home that buys electricity from and sells electricity into the national grid. Conclusions: The rental housing market is soft right now and is expected to remain that way for the next year or two. Then the market for rental housing should pick up if the economy has recovered and unemployment has