Christmas is next week and the folks over at Statista have put together their list of the most desired gifts.  Not surprising, money is the most desired Christmas present in the U.S. this year, followed by clothes and gift cards.  Stay safe, have a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season!!! Hat tip to Statista.   The post Most Desired Christmas Gifts in America appeared first on Real Estate Investing Today.

The American Automobile Association (aka AAA) says that over 119 million people will be traveling this holiday season –a record number.  In addition, AAA expects nearly 117 million people will drive to their holiday destinations.  AAA calculates the holiday season from Saturday, December 21 to Wednesday, January 1. “This is the time of year when lifelong memories are made with loved ones, and travel plays a big role in that…This year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we’re anticipating record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday.”  Said Stacey Barber, Vice President of AAA Travel. Click here to read the full report at the AAA.   The post AAA Predicts Nearly 120 Million Traveling Over the Christmas Season appeared first on Real Estate Investing Today.

Homeowners with kids living under their roof are much more likely to receive help from family with down payments and/or monthly mortgages than their no-kids counterparts, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey. That’s partly because they’re buying bigger, more expensive homes. One-quarter (25%) of recent homebuyers who have kids living at home received a cash gift from family to help fund their down payment, more than double the 12% of recent buyers without kids who received such a gift.  The survey findings in this report are from a Redfin-commissioned survey conducted by Ipsos in September 2024, fielded to 1,802 U.S. residents aged 18-65. This report compares respondents who have children under 18 living in their home to respondents who don’t. Please see the end of this report for more methodology details.  Homeowners with kids living under their roof are also more likely to receive family help for mortgage payments. One …

New listings posted their second-biggest annual increase since early summer this week, and pending home sales continue to rise. New listings of homes for sale are up 7.6%, the biggest year-over-year increase since June (except the four weeks ending November 24, when the increase was inflated due to Thanksgiving). This is based on data from the four weeks ending December 15. There are several reasons more sellers are putting their homes on the market. One, home prices are high; the median U.S. home sale price is up 6% year over year, the second-biggest increase since October 2022. Two, consumer confidence rose to a 16-month high after November’s election, motivating more sellers to make the major financial decision to list their home. And finally, some sellers are hoping to take advantage of the increased homebuying demand we’ve seen over the last month.  The latest demand signals show it is continuing to …

Annual U.S. rent growth registered a 1.7% increase in October, marking the lowest rate recorded since June 2020. On a monthly basis, October marks the third consecutive month of below-trend seasonal growth. This month-over-month decrease is a clear sign that rent growth is decelerating, especially in markets in the South and the West where rent growth is approaching historical averages following multiple years of red-hot rent growth.  Click here to read CoreLogic’s full SFRI report with September 2024 data, which features commentary from Principal Economist Molly Boesel. All archived SFRI reports are available at this home page, while regular housing market reports and blog posts from  CoreLogic’s Office of the Chief Economist can be found here.

A new report from the NAHB’s Eye on Housing shows that house prices posted modest annual growth for Q3, 2024, however for the past two quarters this price growth has slowed.  The NAHB says this has occurred while elevated mortgage rates have kept many potential home buyers away – even with additional inventory. Between the third quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had positive house price appreciation, ranging from 1.2% to 8.8%. New Jersey and Connecticut topped the house price appreciation list with an 8.8% gain. click on the map to make it interactive   Click here to read the full report at the NAHB’s Eye on Housing.   The post House Price Appreciation by State appeared first on Real Estate Investing Today.

Major Home-Ownership Expenses Consume 34 Percent of National Average Wage   IRVINE, Calif. – Dec. 19, 2024 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, today released its fourth-quarter 2024 U.S. Home Affordability Report showing that median-priced single-family homes and condos remain less affordable in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to historical averages in 98 percent of counties around the nation with enough data to analyze. The latest trend continues a three-year pattern of home ownership requiring historically large portions of wages as U.S. home prices keep reaching new heights. The report also shows that major expenses on median-priced homes currently consume 34 percent of the average national wage. That level marks an increase of more than one percentage point both quarterly and annually, pushing the figure even farther above the common 28 percent lending guideline preferred by lenders. The downturns in current and historic affordability …